The Associated Press is reporting that the Lance Armstrong Foundation will extend the LiveStrong brand to a for-profit fitness-related website. The website will be called LiveStrong.com. The press release announcing LiveStrong.com says that the site will be launched in conjunction with Demand Media, a company that runs vertical market social networking websites. Lance Armstrong and Capital Sports and Entertainment, the sports management and marketing firm partly owned by Lance Armstrong, will also play significant roles.
LiveStrong.com com is scheduled to launch in the second quarter of 2008.
According to the press release:
As a strategic advisor and ongoing content contributor, Lance will work exclusively with Demand Media to build and promote LIVESTRONG.com for the next four years. Demand Media will have an exclusive and perpetual license to the LiveStrong.com domain and work with the foundation to develop LIVESTRONG.com into the leading health, wellness, and fitness destination. Demand Media will provide a perpetual license of its proprietary social media tools to support the LAF army of volunteers on LIVESTRONG.org. Donors, supporters and survivors will be able to interact on the non-profit site via profiles, messaging, photos and blogs. Members of the LAF army will be invited to preview LIVESTRONG.com before its public launch in Q2.
It will be really interesting to see if LiveStrong.com can be launched as a fitness-oriented social networking site without confusing some members of the public about the main Lance Armstrong Foundation website at LiveStrong.org. I am a big supporter of the entire LiveStrong program, and I hope for the best.