Cookie and clothing makers, a fitness studio and an old-fashioned five-and-dime retailer have made the cut in a competition to win a Super Bowl ad.
Ten small businesses are finalists in the contest sponsored by software maker Intuit Inc. that will give the winner a 30-second spot during Super Bowl 50 on Feb. 7. The public now gets to vote online to choose the winner.
The commercial to be aired during the game will be the second small-business ad Intuit has paid for. GoldieBlox, a toy for girls, won the software maker's first competition and had a 30-second spot during the 2014 Super Bowl.
The finalists for the current competition, chosen by a team of judges at Intuit from 15,000 submissions, are:
- AnaOno, Philadelphia, maker of lingerie for women who have undergone breast reconstruction surgery.
- Chubbies Shorts, San Francisco, maker of shorts and other clothes.
- Death Wish Coffee Co., Round Lake, New York, coffee roaster.
- EZPZ, Parker, Colorado, maker of combination plates and placemats for children.
- FreshPaper, Washington, D.C., manufactures paper that keeps produce fresh.
- G Mommas Cookies, Selma, Alabama, cookie maker.
- Sword & Plough, Denver, makes bags and other accessories from surplus military items.
- Unshrinkit, Cambridge, Massachusetts, repairs wool clothing damaged in a washer or dryer.
- Vidler's 5 & 10, East Aurora, New York, retailer.
- WiggleKids Inc., Swansea, Massachusetts, fitness studio for children and adults.
Super Bowl ads are usually bought by big companies with high-profile brands like Chevy, Doritos and Budweiser. Ads during this year's Super Bowl cost $4.5 million for 30 seconds of air time, not including the cost of producing the spots. That puts the commercials well out of financial reach for most small companies.
The ads get almost as much attention as the game itself. Viewers post comments on social media, and the commercials are a topic of conversation when people get to work the next day. A Budweiser ad from the Super Bowl in 2014 featuring a Labrador retriever puppy and Clydesdale horses has gotten more than 60 million views on YouTube.
Voting continues until Nov. 3.
