Pubdate: Thu, 26 Sep 2013
Source: USA Today (US)
Copyright: 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/625HdBMl
Website: http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/index.htm
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/466
Author: Bruce Horovitz
Page: 5B

MARIJUANA GROUP SEES SUPER BOWL AD EFFORT AS POT OF GOLD

Intuit Offers to Pay for a Small-Business Ad in Big Game; NORML Wants
It

Could the upcoming Super Bowl broadcast a pro-marijuana spot?

Odds are long, but it may be more than a pipe dream.

One pro-marijuana advocacy group is making a serious bid to win an
online voting contest sponsored by Intuit, which has promised to award
a free Super Bowl spot to one American small business.

While the contest has received more than 10,000 entries, the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) ranks among the
most popular vote-getters in the first stage of voting, which just
ended. The pro-pot group's efforts are bringing extra buzz to the
contest, but it may not be exactly the kind of buzz that Intuit wanted.

"Intuit leadership is surely wringing their collective hands over the
matter," says brand guru Peter Madden. "Though marijuana isn't as
taboo a subject since its legal approval in varying states, it is the
equivalent to a scarlet letter - albeit one tainted green - that their
brand is now forced to wear. Such is the danger to brands who go the
contest route."

While there's nothing new about advocacy groups trying to hitch their
wagons to the megastage of the Super Bowl, this latest effort appears
to rank among the savviest in years.

"We look for any opportunity to put a toe into the cultural stew,"
says Allen St. Pierre, executive director at NORML. "When you only
have a million-dollar annual budget, and a Super Bowl ad costs $4
million, you have to do something very creative to get onto the Super
Bowl."

Intuit officials are trying to put on the best public
face.

"This program has been a huge success in our eyes, and we want to
continue to focus on all the entries - not just one," says Heather
McLellan, director of communications at Intuit, in an e-mail.

But isn't Intuit enjoying the onslaught of public relations it's
getting since NORML's own public relations grab? "Not if it promotes
only one entry and not the thousands of other small businesses that
have entered," says McLellan.

Fox, the network that will broadcast the Super Bowl on Feb. 2, was
non-committal about airing a promarijuana ad. "Any advertising
submitted to Fox is subject to broadcast standards review before it
can be aired," says spokesman Lou D'Ermilio, in an e-mail. In the
past, however, Fox has mostly refused to air advocacy ads for
controversial issues.

Meanwhile, the Intuit Super Bowl ad contest continues. The next step
is to narrow the 10,000 entrants to 20, says McLellan, "based on how
they would represent American small businesses and the Intuit brand."
That will then be narrowed to four - and a public vote will ultimately
pick the winner.

Like thousands of other entrants, says St. Pierre, NORML has high
hopes, and its been an Intuit customer since about 1994, he says.

In one sense, says Madden, the public relations expert, NORML already
has won big. "This isn't PR gold," he says. "It's PR platinum."

Which would appear to leave Intuit - which is footing the bill - with
silver. Or bronze.
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MAP posted-by: Matt