The maker of Quaker State motor oil is sponsoring a contest ("Contest") in which entrants will submit a video explaining why they believe they have the "World's Worst Commute".
The rules applicable to the contest are as follows:
1. ELIGIBILITY: The Contest is open to legal residents of the United States (excluding Puerto Rico) who have reached the age of 18 or the applicable age of majority in the relevant jurisdiction by February 15, 2009 and possess a valid U.S. driver's license. Employees and their family members of SOPUS Products ("Sponsor"), G2, The Service Center, Ltd., Jimmie Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports and all other companies associated with the Contest and each of their respective parent companies, affiliates, subsidiaries, participating dealers, and advertising and promotional agencies or any organization involved with the production, execution or distribution of this Contest are not eligible to participate. Family members are defined to include spouse, parents, children, grandparents and siblings.
2. HOW TO ENTER: VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. NO PURCHASE IS NECESSARY. MAKING A PURCHASE DOES NOT IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. Entry ("Entry") for the contest requires:
Contest begins February 15, 2009 and ends May 31, 2009 ("Contest Period"). Go online during the Contest Period and submit the information above to the Quaker State World's Worst Commute Contest at www.QuakerState.com. All Entries must be submitted and all videos uploaded by 11:59:59 PM Eastern Time on May 15, 2009 to be considered eligible for voting. Beginning at 12:00:01 AM Eastern Time on February 15, 2009 and ending on May 31, 2009 at 11:59:59 PM Eastern Time, all eligible videos will be posted for the public (ages 16 or older) to vote on their favorite at QuakerState.com ("Voting Period"). Sponsor's computer will be the official timekeeper of this Contest. Entries will be deemed to be made by the authorized account holder of the valid e-mail address. Entries are limited to one Entry per person/per-e-mail address. If multiple Entries from the same person/e-mail address are received, only the first such Entry received will be eligible. In the event of a dispute, the authorized account holder of the e-mail address used to enter will be deemed to be the entrant. The "authorized account holder" is the natural person assigned to an e-mail address by an Internet access provider, online service provider or other organization responsible for assigning e-mail addresses for the domain associated with the submitted e-mail address. Entrants agree to be bound by these Official Rules.
In order to be entered into the Contest, entrants must comply with registration instructions when submitting their Entry. The video must be in one of the following formats: .avi, .mov, .mpg, .mpeg, .wmv, .qt, .mp4, .flv, .ram, .ogm, .mpeg4, .mp4v, .mpe, .mkv. Videos must be between 30 and 60 seconds in length, and should be limited to 200 mega bytes if possible. No videos larger than 500 mega bytes will be accepted. All Submissions will be reviewed for content before being published or judged; however, such review does not relieve entrant from responsibility for compliance with all of the Official Rules. The Entry may not contain obscene, lewd or inappropriate images or text including: no nudity, acts of violence or acts that appear to cause harm, as determined in Sponsor's sole discretion. Any Entry material or portion thereof that is, in the Sponsor's sole discretion, obscene, profane, lewd, defamatory, contains any third party materials, or otherwise violates or infringes (or may infringe) any copyright, trademark, logo, mark that identifies a brand or other proprietary right of any person living or deceased (including but not limited to rights of privacy or publicity or portrayal in a false light) or entity, defames the Quaker State or other SOPUS Products brands, or is otherwise objectionable, may not be considered and may disqualify the entrant. Therefore, clothing worn in the video should not contain any visible logos, drawings, cartoons, phrases, trademarks or other third-party materials. Entrants may not include any copyrighted material including music or musical accompaniment (whether prominent or in the background). Entrants may not copy or otherwise plagiarize the Entry material from any source. Sponsor has the sole discretion to determine whether a video qualifies as an Entry. All Entries must be accurate representations of true events and must be the sole, original work of the entrants. Entries become the property of the Sponsor and will not be acknowledged or returned. Entrants and winners acknowledge and agree that their Entries become the property of the Sponsor, which thereby has the right to edit, adapt, modify, reproduce, promote and otherwise use or not use or dispose of Entries in any way it sees fit. Automated, script, macro or robotic Entries submitted by individuals or organizations will be disqualified. If, in Sponsor's sole discretion, the Entry appears to have resulted in any injury or bodily harm, it will be rejected. Entries must be in keeping with Sponsor's image and may not be offensive, as determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion, nor can it defame or invade publicity rights or privacy rights of any person, living or deceased, or otherwise infringe upon any third party's personal or proprietary rights. In such an event, the Entry will not be posted online and will be disqualified from the Contest. Any Entry not in compliance with the above and does not meet the website's requirements will be disqualified. By entering, you agree to waive any rights, title or interest you may have to the Entry submitted.
3. SELECTION OF WINNERS: Beginning at 12:00:01 AM Eastern Time on February 15, 2009 all eligible videos will be posted for public online voting. All Entries must be submitted and all videos uploaded by 11:59:59 PM Eastern Time on May 15, 2009 to be considered eligible for public voting and prize winnings. Sponsor's computer will be the official timekeeper of this Contest. All eligible videos will be posted for the public (ages 16 or older) to vote on their favorite at QuakerState.com during the Voting Period. Limit one (1) vote per person per Day. A "Day" is defined as the 24 hours between 12:00:01 AM Eastern Time and 11:59:59 PM Eastern Time throughout the Voting Period. On or about June 1, 2009, the top fifty (50) highest rated videos as determined by the voting public will be deemed eligible as finalists for the Grand Prize and Runner-Up Prize. In the unlikely event that public voting results in a tie, the tied submissions will be re-judged by the judges based on the judging criteria stated below. The finalists' videos will be judged based upon the following criteria:
Challenge of the commute (must be a passenger car, lightweight truck or SUV)** - 40%
Originality** - 30%
Overall appeal** - 30%
**as determined in the sole discretion of the Sponsor's panel of judges
A panel of judges consisting of Quaker State marketing staff and agency personnel will judge the 50 finalists' Entries and determine the top 10 - 15 videos to be judged by Quaker State management, Hendrick Motorsports staff, and Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson. Grand Prize and Runner-Up Prize winners will be selected from the top 10 - 15 videos. Decisions of the judges are final in all matters regarding this Contest. Sponsor will attempt to notify the potential winners by mail and/or phone on or about June 30, 2009.
4. CLAIMS: Any Entry received that is incomplete, tampered with, illegible, mutilated, reproduced, containing errors, obtained where prohibited by law, or was not obtained legitimately will be null and void. SOPUS Products, G2, The Service Center, Ltd., Jimmie Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports and all other companies associated with the Contest and each of their respective parent companies, subsidiaries, affiliates, agents, advertising and promotion agencies, distributors, retailers, and web development companies and any other companies participating in the design, administration or fulfillment of this Contest, and the officers, governors, directors, agents, and employees of each of these entities ("Released Parties") are not responsible for (1) lost, late, misdirected videos, any incorrect or inaccurate information, technical or human error which may occur in the administration of the Contest or the processing of Entries; (2) any injury or damage to persons or property which may be caused, directly or indirectly, from entrants' participation in the Contest or receipt or use or misuse of the prize; (3) the failure of any attempted Entry to be received by the deadline; (4) telephone, electronic, hardware, software, network, Internet or computer malfunctions, failures or difficulties of any kind; (5) errors or delays in transmission; (6) injury or damage to entrants' or to any other person's computer related to or resulting from participating in this Contest (or portion thereof) or downloading materials from or use of the website. Winners will be required to sign and return an affidavit of eligibility and release of liability/publicity within ten (10) days of notification or an alternate winner will be selected (Tennessee residents need not execute publicity release). Unless the child of the winner, travel companion must be 18 years of age or older as of the date of the departure and must travel on the same itinerary as the winner. Travel companion will be required to execute a liability/publicity release prior to ticketing airline flight (Tennessee residents need not execute publicity release). All prize claims are subject to verification, which includes confirmation that the e-mail address provided is valid and belongs to the participant.
5. PRIZES: One (1) Grand Prize will be awarded in this contest. The Grand Prize winner will be driven to work by Jimmie Johnson in a third-party Chevrolet vehicle to be provided by Sponsor. Grand Prize commute must take place some time between the hours of 8 AM and 5 PM, Monday - Friday between August 1, 2009 and October 15, 2009 (subject to driver availability). Prize winning commute must not exceed approximately 50 to 60 miles in length, nor must it exceed approximately 1 hour in duration. Return transportation to be provided by Sponsor for winner to place of commute origin. Grand Prize winner will also receive two (2) suite tickets to the Bank of America 500 race in Charlotte, North Carolina on October 17, 2009 with roundtrip coach class airfare for two (2) from the major airport nearest the winner's place of residence, and one (1) hotel room (double occupancy) for two (2) nights. Hotel, airport, airline, and flight itinerary to be determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion. Approximate retail value of Grand Prize is $2699.00 USD. One (1) Runner-Up Prize will be awarded that consists of two (2) suite tickets to the Bank of America 500 race in Charlotte, North Carolina on October 17, 2009 with roundtrip coach class airfare for two (2) from the major airport nearest the winner's place of residence, and one (1) hotel room (double occupancy) for two (2) nights. Hotel, airport, airline, and flight itinerary determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion. Approximate retail value of the Runner-Up Prize is $2100.00 USD. Winners are responsible for any local, state and federal taxes. Prizes are not transferable, and there are no substitute or cash equivalent prizes, except by Sponsor who reserves the right to substitute a prize, or portion thereof, of equal or greater value at its sole discretion. Actual value may vary based on airfare fluctuations and distance between departure and destination. If (in the judgment of Sponsor) air travel is not required due to winner's proximity to prize location, ground transportation will be substituted for round trip airfare at Sponsor's sole discretion. All expenses and incidental travel costs not expressly stated in the Official Rules of this Contest, including but not limited to, ground transportation, meals, incidentals, airport fees, parking fees, personal charges at the hotel, etc., are the sole responsibility of the winner. Approximate Retail Value of all prizes is $4,799.00 USD. Limit one prize per family/household.
6. GENERAL RULES: All federal, state and local laws and regulations apply. In no event will Sponsor be liable for more than the stated prize in Rule 5. Sponsor reserves the right to not award the stated prizes in Rule 5 if in Sponsor's sole discretion, Sponsor does not receive a sufficient number of eligible or qualified Entries. Acceptance of prize offered constitutes permission to use winner's name and/or likeness for advertising/trade purposes without further compensation, except where prohibited by law. Any and/or all fifty (50) finalists may be required to submit a background check release and talent release. Sponsor reserves the right to disqualify any finalist whose background check yields any of the below violations:
Sponsor reserves the right to cancel, suspend and/or modify the Contest, or any part of it, if any fraud, technical failure or any other factor beyond Sponsor's control impairs the integrity or proper functioning of the Contest, as determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion. The Official Rules shall be governed by the laws of the State of Texas, without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules, which could cause the application of the laws of any jurisdiction other than the State of Texas.
7. WAIVER: By entering, entrants (i) agree to these Official Rules and the decisions of the Sponsor and judges, which shall be final and binding in all matters relating to the Contest; (ii) agree to release and hold harmless the Released Parties for personal injuries, death, damages, expenses or costs or losses of any kind arising out of or resulting from participation or inability to participate in this Contest or acceptance of or use or misuse or inability to use any prizes awarded hereunder or parts thereof including, without limitation, claims, suits, injuries, losses and damages related to personal injuries, death, damage to or destruction of property, rights of publicity or privacy, defamation or portrayal in a false light (whether intentional or unintentional), whether under a theory of contract, tort (including negligence), warranty or other theory.
8. GENERAL RELEASE: All Entries become the property of the Sponsor and will not be returned. Participation in the Contest constitutes entrant's consent to the publication of his or her name, likeness and video in any media for promotional purposes, except where prohibited by law. By entering the Contest, each entrant grants to the Sponsor exclusive, royalty-free and irrevocable right and license to publish, print, edit or otherwise use the entrant's submitted Entry for any purpose and in any manner or media. Entrants agree that the information included in their Entry can be used without any restriction or notice as to changes or alterations for any advertising, promotion, publicity or any other lawful purposes.
9. WINNER'S LIST: For the names of the winners, send a self-addressed stamped envelope after July 15, 2009 to Quaker State World's Worst Commute Winner's List, P.O. Box 809004, Houston, TX 77280-9921.
10. SPONSOR: SOPUS Products, P.O. Box 4427, Houston, TX 77210-4427.
© 2009 SOPUS Products. All rights reserved.