Small business owners: Fed up of your limited marketing budget and want a chance to get your business advertised on probably the most prestigious advertising space in the world: The Super Bowl?
Well, now you can – with the help of Intuit.
Intuit, the software company which makes popular and powerful business software, such as Quickbooks and TurboTax, will spend millions of dollar on 2014 Super Bowl – featuring your small business.
Of course, there’s a catch: To access such top dollar advertising value (a 30-second Super Bowl ad slot costs you $4 million in 2012) you need to enter a contest to compete with fellow small businesses for the coveted spot.
Intuit’s Small Business Big Game contest will choose one winner, whose business will be featured in a Super Bowl commercial. The commercial will be produced by RPA, Los Angeles-based advertising agency.
For the contest promotion and exposure, Intuit partners with entrepreneur, TV star and the winner of Apprentice season one Bill Rancic and former football coach Jimmy Johnson.
How to enter the Small Business Big Game contest
To register and be eligible, you need to be a small business with 50 or fewer employees. To be considered as a candidate, you need to tell your story in 600 words; the deadline is September 22.
The public will vote for the top 20, and the “final four” will be decided by Intuit employees (8,000 of them, by the way…) The winner will be announced on December 1.
Even when you are not chosen as the winner, there will be perks.
Intuit says it will prepare the winning firm, as well as three runners-up, for national exposure. For instance, it will help them improve their websites and bulk up their telecommunications capabilities.
According to Fox Business, signing up and entering the contest will get you 50 percent of QuickBooks product. There are also $1,000 grants for participants. Not stopping there, they will also receive a playbook containing Intuit best practices, as well as Bill Rancic’s very own success tips.
Why Intuit does it?
Of course, this is not philanthropy, giving away millions of dollar-worth of ad on behalf of a small business. This is an Intuit campaign which will garner global attention launching the contest (it’s already covered by major online publications.) The commercial will also feature Intuit’s logo at the end of the ad – enough to raise Intuit’s brand awareness.
So, to me, it’s a win-win proposition, really.
To follow the progress of the contest, including sharing your thoughts about it, you can do so by using this hashtag #TeamSmallBiz.
What do you think? Will small business participants – other than the winner – also benefit from joining this contest? Please share your opinion by leaving your comment below…
