Small businesses that produce dog treats, toys, eggs and compost are vying for a chance to have a commercial during the Super Bowl.
The four companies are finalists in a competition held by software maker Intuit, which will pay millions of dollars to give the winner a 30-second spot in the game Feb. 2. They were selected by Intuit's 8,000 employees. The winner will be chosen in a vote open to anyone who visits the competition website: www.smallbusinessbiggame.com through Dec. 1.
The finalists are Barley Labs, of Durham, N.C., which makes dog treats out of barley; GoldieBlox, based in Oakland, Calif., maker of engineering toys aimed at girls; Locally Laid Egg Co., a Duluth, Minn., egg producer and POOP — Natural Dairy Compost, a Nampa, Idaho, fertilizer maker.
All four businesses are young. Dairy Poop was founded this year, while the others were launched in 2012.
Barley labs makes treats from grain left over from beer brewing, while POOP uses cattle manure to manufacture fertilizer. GoldieBlox's products are blocks and other toys that teach girls about engineering and construction. And Locally Laid Egg produces eggs from hens that live in pastures rather than in coops.
Nearly 15,000 small businesses entered the contest during the summer. Intuit employees voted for the 20 best, and that field was winnowed down to four. The make the final four, a small business had to prove that it could handle the bump up in business that a Super Bowl ad could give it.
Super Bowl ads are usually run by huge companies and brands like Budweiser and Chevrolet, not small businesses. Intuit has never had an ad of its own. But some famous ads have been run by companies that were not yet giants, including Apple Inc., which ran an ad in 1984 that raised the public's awareness about the impending launch of the Macintosh.
The ads give a company of any size great visibility; more than 100 million people are expected to watch the game.
The advertising agency RPA, which has created Super Bowl ads in the past, will create the spot. It is creating ads for all four finalists, but only one will be seen on the Super Bowl. The others will be shown at other times.
How The Hollywood Awards Calendar Has Been Affected By The Wildfires
Hollywood's awards season has all but come to a rare halt as the wildfires continue to disrupt life and work in the Los Angeles area. There are near daily updates from the Hollywood guilds and organizations that put on awards shows as the industry navigates the ongoing crisis.
Here's an overview of the major upcoming awards shows, from the Oscars to the Grammys, including updated dates for nominations.
Producers Guild and Writers Guild award nominations
Postponed, no new dates announced
The Writers Guild of America nominations were to be announced Jan. 8, a date that was pushed to Jan. 13 and then postponed indefinitely. The Producers Guild of America nominations for feature films were to be announced on Jan. 10, which was pushed to Jan. 12 and then postponed to an unspecified date this week.
Academy Award nominations
Jan. 23
The Oscar nominations have been twice-delayed — they were initially slated for Jan. 17, then Jan. 19, before being delayed again. The delay in the announcement accommodates an extended voting deadline, as many Academy members have been affected by the wildfires.
The nominations will be announced via a "virtual presentation," eschewing press on site.
Critics Choice Awards
Jan. 26
Originally slated for Jan. 12, the awards were set to take place at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, only miles from the Pacific Palisades neighborhood where fire was raging.
The awards will be broadcast live on E!, hosted by Chelsea Handler.
Grammy Awards
Feb. 2
By virtue of announcing their nominations back in November, the Grammys' schedule has largely been unaffected by the wildfires. Some... Read More