“I didn’t even know there was an official detergent,” said Bryan Clay, US decathlete and WIN Olympic pitchman, to the Wall Street Journal in early August, “but you know what, it works.”

Back in 2002, Mark Konjevod and his partner Thomas deNeufville founded the company after being inspired by their athletic backgrounds and Konjevod’s marathon training. Though regular detergents such as the Tide and Cheer brands clean and remove odors from cotton and polyester based clothes, they are reported to be much less effective at removing the particular smells from high-tech synthetic sports clothing. Modern sports apparel uses synthetic blends that wick away sweat from the body and keep the body cool and dry—but also, as a result, trap bacteria in the fabric, which creates odor.

WIN was formulated with an active oxygen molecule to “slip into the crevices [of the fabric] and remove the smelly bacteria” that plagues most clothing after sweat and exercise co-mingle, even after multiple washes. After an introduction by deNeufville, chemists once employed by Unilever developed the formula. Konjevod and deNeufville reportedly scoured the beauty store Sephora, in New York, as inspiration for creating the winning scent.

Like the ever-popular Tide and Cheer brands, the WIN packaging is traditional looking in shape, albeit (currently) offered in smaller bottle sizes than its mainstream competitors. Its price is higher than stain-removing agents such as Shout, retailing at about US$ 6.99 for 22 ounces. What WIN is not doing is competing with Unilever and P&G brands on the grocery store shelves. WIN detergent is currently sold online through its own website and Amazon, as well as in health gyms and specialty running and cycling stores. WIN is relying on the Olympics and the related press and viral buzz as its main marketing strategy—at least for now.

The product’s packaging is a simple nautical blue, trimmed with white and slight red accents, and displays stick-figure sports icon graphics as a part of its logo/wordmark. In addition, the USA Olympic logo appears at the top of the bottle face, which serves both as a trustworthy endorsement and validation of the detergent’s street cred with athletes. While the brand’s packaging won’t win any awards for innovation, it is a simple and clean brand execution that clearly gets across WIN’s unique messaging.

In addition to the Olympic affiliation, WIN also has the backing of Nike, which recommends the product to callers of Nike’s customer service line who are looking for solutions to removing smells from their odorous clothes. Between the major endorsements and associated viral buzz, the demand for the product looks rosy for the near future. It further helps that growth in sales of high-tech athletic apparel jumped 39 percent since 2005 to US$ 5 billion in annual sales in 2007, according to the Wall Street Journal. And it appears WIN's success won't fade in the wash anytime soon.

Alycia de Mesa is a brand consultant, speaker and writer with more than a decade of industry experience ranging from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies. Her latest book is Brand Avatar – Translating Virtual World Branding Into Real World Success (Palgrave-Macmillan).