ESPN Deportes & Degree Men debut Frente al Reto.

ESPN Deportes and Degree Men premiered its first documentary-style soccer show entitled Frente al Reto. The much anticipated original series captures the extraordinary stories of eight Mexican soccer stars as they take on the challenge to represent their national team in the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa. Frente al Reto will air every Monday for eight consecutive weeks on ESPN Deportes at 8:30 p.m. ET. The program will debut in Latin America March 14, 2010.

Produced by ESPN Deportes, in collaboration with Walton Isaacson, Frente al Reto is the network’s first major step in the content development arena, outside of studio shows. Narrated by renowned GOYA award nominated actor Jose Maria ‘Chema’ Yazpik of Mexico (“Solo Quiero Caminar,” “Beverly Hills Chihuahua”), Frente al Reto gives viewers an inside look at the life of young Mexican soccer stars, including Andres Guardado (Deportivo La Coruña), Jonny Magallón (Club Deportivo de Guadalajara), Giovanni Dos Santos (Galatasaray), Omar Arellano (Club Deportivo de Guadalajara), Efraín Juarez (Pumas), Guillermo Ochoa (Club America), Jesus Corona (Cruz Azul) of Mexico’s National Soccer Team and Jose “Gringo” Torres (Pachuca) of the U.S. National Soccer Team. Using player interviews, testimony from historians, journalists and from a long line of teammates, trainers, coaches, friends and family, the documentary takes the viewers face-to-face with the dreams, fears and challenges these players must face for the love of the game.

“We are incredibly excited and proud to bring these stories to our fans,” said Juan Alfonso, vice president, marketing and content development, ESPN International. “Our goal with Frente al Reto is to show viewers that their idols are more than just a face on a television screen and a player on the field. These are people with everyday challenges, insecurities and an enormous set of expectations on their shoulders.”

Degree Men, presenting sponsor and official antiperspirant and deodorant of Mexico’s National Soccer Team, worked closely with ESPN Deportes during pre-production to seamlessly weave in Degree Men’s product performance messaging and bring to life the essence of the brand’s campaign theme, “Siempre Enfrenta El Reto” (Always Take on the Challenge). From providing challenge-related questions for the player interviews, to helping create the series’ title, the series brings to life the challenge and high intensity moments to illustrate the performance of Degree Men. The common theme of every episode of Frente al Reto is perseverance, on or off the field. This was created to parallel the brand message of Degree Men — knowing that no matter what challenges men face, Degree Men won’t let them down. The brand also leveraged its relationship with Andres Guardado to feature him as one of the superstars in the series and will air five commercials during each half-hour episode.

“We are pleased with the outcome of Frente al Reto and hope soccer fans will enjoy watching the series as much as we enjoyed creating it,” said Jay Mathew, marketing director for Degree Men. “The content of the series represents the essence of the Degree Men brand and showcases how our product performs during the most intense situations on and off the field. Not only is our message a perfect fit for this series, it also gave players much to think and talk about in each episode as they prepared to face the biggest challenge of their careers.”

“Walton Isaacson is proud to be partnering with ESPN Deportes to share the untold stories that help bring Frente al Reto to life,” says Cory Isaacson, Co-founder, Walton Isaacson. “From the beginning, our concept was to help reveal a more dynamic look at the challenges the biggest players in the sport experience while trying to realize their dreams. Thanks to our partner Degree Men, these rich stories and the show format provide an amazing backdrop to the immense anticipation leading up to the World Cup this summer.”

In addition to television exposure, Degree Men’s branding will extend to radio, as well as online on www.frentealreto.com, a microsite exclusively created for the series. Mindshare, Degree Men’s media agency of record, managed the media planning.

“We are excited to have Degree Men as the presenting sponsor of the Frente al Reto series,” said John Fitzgerald, vice president, multimedia sales, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Audio. “Frente al Reto is an example of how an advertiser’s brand essence can be woven into a program while maintaining journalistic integrity and fan entertainment. Our collaboration with Degree Men and Walton Isaacson has created a series that soccer fans will love.”