Gas prices are climbing, and apparently Microsoft sees this as just another way to promote its software. The company recently launched a sweepstakes for 5,000 gallons of gas, to be given to an 18+ legal resident of the 50 United States (including the District of Columbia) that owns a small business legally domiciled in the US that has between two and 100 employees. The Bump the Slump sweepstakes will be ending in two weeks at 11:59 PM PT on July 18, 2008. Up to five employees of each small business can enter the contest. A winner will be notified of their prize within a week of the drawing date, expected to be July 21, 2008. There is only one prize winner; odds of winning therefore depend on the number of small businesses that enter.
The "5,000 gallons of regular unleaded gasoline" prize will come in the form of $250 Shell prepaid gas cards. The prize value "will be determined based on the price of one gallon of regular unleaded fuel at the Shell station nearest the winner's home residence on the day the winner is selected," but for those curious, it is approximately $20,000.00. It seems that Microsoft's investment of $20,000 is for the sake of promoting software that small businesses can use. Eric Ligman, Microsoft US Senior Manager of Small Business Community Engagement, claims the sweepstakes is all about "saving money":
Here's the deal: as energy and food prices continue to increase, house values continue to decrease and credit continues to tighten, people keep talking about how the economy is looking worse by the month. Some will say this isn’t great news for small business; however, we believe small businesses are uniquely positioned to thrive during these times because they are small. Small often means agile, which allows a company the flexibility to quickly cut costs and button-up operations, becoming more efficient and competitive during these times.
According to the Bump the Slump website, small businesses can save money in various ways when they use various Microsoft applications: Microsoft Office Publisher, Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager, Windows Vista, Microsoft Office Live Meeting, Microsoft adCenter, and Windows Small Business Server. While I will give it to Microsoft that the promotion approach is quite unique and might even get the message across, I seriously doubt small businesses who haven't yet heard of the above applications are suddenly going to go out and purchase them. All right, maybe one person will: the owner of the company that saves $20,000 on gas this year.
Further reading
- Microsoft SMB Community Blog: Microsoft is giving away 5,000 gallons of gasoline!
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