HP Officejet Challenge 2012

For Small Business

Contest Proposal March 7, 2012

The Contest
(based on the 2011 HP OfficeJet Challenge Program)

Sprouter will outfit 6-8 start ups with a brand new printer, and then send them off to the races to test the features and learn how the printer can help them run their small business. The challengers will be asked to swap their existing ink or laser printer and try the a new HP OfficeJet printer for a 4 week period. The 6-8 selected small business challengers will be given an HP Officejet printers along with supplies. Participants will be required to share their experiences using the HP printer each week by blogging on the contest blog.

Each week, blog readers will vote on the post theyve found most useful.
At the end of the four-week trial, a grand prize will be awarded to the participant based on our expert judging panels final votes and how many votes they received from the readers.

The Logistics
(based on the 2011 HP OfficeJet Challenge Program)

The HP Officejet Challenge will be launched in 2012 (Exact timing TBD) To enter the challenge, small businesses must have a maximum number of 4-10 employees, be located in Canada (excluding Quebec), and use a competitive ink or laser printer. For four weeks starting at a date TBD, the small businesses will test drive the new Officejet Pro devices and blog about their experiences on topics including: cost & energy savings, print speed/quality, Do It Yourself Marketing, responsible printing. Blog posts will appear on the contest website. During the challenge, participants will be looking to gain votes for their posts.

Visitors to the blog will vote in real time for the business blogger whose posts they found most helpful/useful.
Winner will be chosen based on a the votes of the Expert Panel (sourced by Sprouter) and the total tally of reader votes.

The Contest Mechanics and Prizing

Contest Microsite and Entry Point: Hosted on Sprouter.com domain (Microsite creative to be provided by HP) Included on microsite page will be blog posts and entry form (as created by HP) Sprouter will handle all back-end hosting logistics Contestant and Judging Panel: Sprouter will recruit and manage all contest participants (6-8 small business participants, each being approximately 4-10 employees in size) Sprouter will recruit and manage Expert Judging panel (Sarah Prevette will be included on this panel) Prizing: (prizing can be changed this was based on last year) Each of the contestants will receive a prize package from HP for participating in the challenge that includes details TBD $1,000 Staples gift card (TO be confirmed by HP) Other prizing TBD

The Promotion & Investment

Social Media: Promoted for 8 weeks the contest for its duration through Sprouters social media channels including: o Twitter: @Sprouter 16 tweets (2/week) o Sprouter blog: 6 blog posts o Sprouter Facebook page: 6 status updates linking to the OJC website Sprouter Weekly Email: 2 x inclusion in the Sprouter weekly publication for a total of two inclusions Sprouter weekly email subscribers list has grown by over 50% versus 2011 Postmedia Network Promotion: 800,000 Co-Branded impressions across PM network targeted to Small Biz and Tech channels (combination BB and LB Impressions will link to HP OfficeJet Microsite on Sprouter.com

TOTAL INVESTMENT: $34,000 NET

The Extensions
Upgrade Contestant Submissions to video include HP Pre-roll Upgrade Ad Units to include multiple page feature and reader engagement (ex. Ask Question and offer multiple choice answer within ad unit OR incorporate video into ad units) Print Component Idea: talk about contest and contestants on National Post Sprouter page, option to syndicate page across Postmedia network of newspaper Digital Content Module: talk about contest and contestants in a digital content module that would allow readers to click on headlines to read about each challenger and their use of the HP products AND/OR include an HP Small Business Product overview

THE SKIES THE LIMIT CREATIVE EXTENSION IDEAS WELCOME!

Sprouter Contact
Katie Cheevers Director, Business Development Sprouter e: katie@sprouter.com p: 416.505.9285