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BIG Detective Shopping Hunt

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Submission Guidelines

What do I send?

We suggest that you submit the following with each of your suggestions. Note that in the event that two or more participants submit the same suggestion, we’re likely to pick the entry with the more thorough, thought-provoking presentation.

Basics of your product suggestion.

Brief description: Give us a concise summary of your product idea/area of opportunity.
Market: Is the idea for hardware, lawn and garden, convenience stores, and/or grocery?
Type of innovation: Is the idea (1) a more innovative version of a commodity product or (2) a simpler, cheaper solution to an area with overfeatured, branded products?

Explanation for each product suggestion. Tell us why you think this a good opportunity that meets our guidelines.

Optional—Description of the “missing product.” We’d welcome your thoughts about what the missing product might be. That could include what the actual product solution is, as well as suggestions for branding, positioning, packaging, etc.

Optional—Supporting material. Drawings, photos, market research, etc., in support of your suggestion are appreciated but not required.

Signed Entry Agreement. Submit one completed Entry Agreement. One agreement will cover all your entries, unless different inventor partners contributed to different submissions.

IMPORTANT: (a) Please include your complete contact information on every page and/or physical item you submit. (b) All materials submitted should be duplicates. We can’t return material, so please don’t send originals unless you don’t need them returned.

Who can participate?
This Hunt is open to both professional and amateur inventors. Participants under age 18 must have a parent or legal guardian complete the Entry Agreement and sign all agreements. Ideas created by multiple inventors are welcome, though you must indicate that on the Entry Agreement. Employees, immediate families, members of the same household, or affiliates and agents of Big Idea Group are not eligible to participate.

What does it cost to enter?
Entry is free.

How many ideas can I submit?
You can submit as many ideas as you like. You must submit a separate summary and description for each idea. However, one Entry Agreement will cover multiple entries if the contributing inventors remain the same for all submissions.

How will my idea be evaluated?
BIG will review the ideas based on the following criteria:

How well it meets our guidelines (see What We’re Seeking)
Marketability of idea (including perceived target consumer interest, uniqueness, proprietary position, competition, ease of communicating concept/benefits, initial potential, longevity, extendibility, defensibility, price vs. perceived value)
Development time, complexity, and costs
Manufacturing issues and costs
Legal and regulatory issues
Inventor (skill set, experience/history)

Who will evaluate the ideas?
BIG will review ideas and might share some with a few consultants who agree to confidentiality.

What is the upside for winning ideas?
Each winning inventor will receive a cash prize of $2,000, plus a royalty of 1-3%. There is also the possibility of paid development work if you have the right qualifications. We’re looking to quickly roll out our new products, so you could be realizing returns by 2011. More than one idea might be selected by BIG.

What is the submission deadline and where do I send materials?
Entries are due on or before August 26, 2010. (Entries must be postmarked by the deadline but can arrive at our offices after the deadline.)

Please mail your submission(s) to
Detective Shopping Hunt
Big Idea Group
360 Rt. 101, Bldg. 4A
Bedford, NH 03110

Or fax to
Detective Shopping Hunt
617-963-7157

Note: Due to expected response level, WE CANNOT ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIPT OF YOUR IDEAS. If you wish to make sure that we receive your entries, please send your material by a delivery service that provides confirmation. We can’t be responsible for illegible, incomplete, late, lost, stolen, postage due, incorrect, misplaced, damaged or undelivered mail, notices, agreements, correspondence or other inventor materials. We regret that we cannot return any materials to inventors.

When can I expect to hear results from the Hunt?
We hope to reach initial decisions about which ideas are of interest by no later than November 2010. BIG will contact submitters with ideas of interest. For competitive and confidentiality reasons, the exact nature of winning concepts cannot be revealed to the general pool of participants.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The Inventor must understand and agree that BIG is involved in the business of researching and developing many ideas for new products and that BIG may have previously received, or may receive, third-party ideas similar or identical to the Inventor’s idea (“Similar Ideas”) and that the Inventor’s participation in this Hunt will not in any way limit BIG’s right to use any such Similar Ideas as they deem appropriate and without any compensation to the Inventor.

Still have questions?
Questions regarding this Hunt can be emailed to Info@bigideagroup.net. PLEASE REFERENCE THE NAME OF THE HUNT IN YOUR EMAIL.