American Bankers Association (ABA) Brand Slam Contest Official Rules

ELIGIBILITY. The ABA Brand Slam® Contest (“Contest”) is open to entities that are either currently or eligible to be a bank member or ABA Partner (i.e., no credit unions or individuals); and are located in the United States or U.S. Territories. Any entities associated with the development, administration, or fulfillment of this Contest (collectively, the “Contest Entities”) are not eligible to participate in this Contest. All applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations apply.

CONTEST PERIOD. Contest begins at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time (“ET”) on June 10, 2024 and ends at 11:59 p.m. ET on August 6, 2024 (“Contest Period”).

HOW TO ENTER. All entries must be received in the manner described in these Official Rules during the Contest Period to be eligible for prizes. Visit https://bankmarketingawards.secure-platform.com:443/a (“Contest Website”) and follow the directions on the Contest entry page to submit or link to materials that: (1) conforms to the “Submission Requirements” noted below (“Materials”); and (2) appears on YouTube or the entrant’s public website (collectively, the “Designated Websites”). Prior to entering the Contest, each entrant must acknowledge that it agrees: (1) to its entry in the Contest and acceptance of the Official Rules, and (2) that the Contest entrant shall have a license (discussed further in the “Use of Materials and Entry Information” section below) in and to its submitted Materials (including all content embodied therein) immediately upon submission.

SUBMISSION CATEGORIES. There will be six distinct submission categories as follows: (1) Video campaign; (2) Integrated marketing campaign; (3) Website redesign; (4) Public Relations/Community Engagement Activity; (5) Social Media Campaign; (6) Out of the Box Idea/Create Your Own Category.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS. A maximum of twenty-five (25) individual files may be submitted for entry per each submission category by Contest entrant. Materials should contain marketing messaging to promote a named financial institution, keeping in mind the “Judging Criteria” section below.

All Materials submitted in connection with the Contest must be: (1) in English; (2) no more than five minutes (300 seconds) in length for video or audio; (3) the entrant’s original work or owned work (in the case of a “work-for-hire” Materials created by an advertising or similar agency) and (4) completed production between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024.

Materials must not, as determined in Sponsor’s sole and absolute discretion: (1) infringe upon any rights of any third party including, without limitation, copyright, trademark, and rights of publicity and/or privacy; (2) copy, incorporate, or include music, images or content (including audio and video) from any movies, commercials, radio, television, or the Internet, unless the entrant: (a) is the lawful copyright owner of such material, or (b) obtains the lawful copyright owner’s prior written consent and pays all applicable royalty and public display/performance licensing fees, which
licenses shall be provided to Sponsor upon request; (3) be or contain any content that is or may be perceived as violent, immoral, defamatory, derogatory, offensive, illegal, sexually suggestive, obscene, or similarly inappropriate, or that represents Contest Entities or any financial institution in a negative way or in any manner not consistent with their brand and/or reputation; (4) contain, include, or encourage images or activities that are dangerous, unsafe, or present unreasonable risk of harm to person or property; (5) suggest or imply to any person to undertake any dangerous, unsafe, or unduly risky activity; (6) be dangerous or unsafe to make or produce; (7) contain any mention, discussion, logo, trademark, service mark, storefront, trade dress, mascot, photograph, or other image or intellectual property of any business or company without that entity’s prior written consent; and (8) contain any names or private and/or sensitive information about the entrant or anyone else. Such inappropriate Materials are strictly prohibited, and any Materials in violation of the above requirements and restrictions, as determined in Sponsor’s sole and absolute
discretion, shall be deemed void.

Materials do not have to include any people, but if Materials include anyone other than the entrant’s employees, that entrant must have received each person’s permission to submit the Materials for the Contest prior to submitting the Materials, and entrant may be asked to provide to Sponsor such permission upon request. By submitting Materials that include pictures or images of any people other than the entrant’s employees, that entrant represents and warrants to Sponsor that said entrant has obtained express permission of such people to submit Materials including their likeness or image to Sponsor in connection with this Contest, with the understanding that upon submission to Sponsor, Contest Entities have a license (as discussed in the “Use of Materials and Entry Information” section below) in and to the Materials. Contest Entities shall consider the entrant to be the entity whose name is on the completed entry information associated with a submission of Materials, regardless of how many other entities appear in the Materials. Each Submission and accompanying entry information may have only one entity listed as the entrant. No Materials may be submitted for more than one entrant. For example, if an advertising agency creates Materials on behalf of or regarding a bank client, then either the bank client or advertising agency can submit the Material; i.e., both the bank client and advertising agency cannot submit the same Material. Should the same Material be submitted by two separate entrants, Sponsor shall determine on a case-by-case basis as to the official entrant for the duplicative Material.

By submitting Materials in the Contest, each entrant represents and warrants that the above requirements have been met. Failure to satisfy these requirements, as determined in Sponsor’s sole and absolute discretion, may result in ineligibility with respect to all Materials submitted by or on behalf of that entrant.

By submitting Materials in the Contest, entrant shall be automatically enrolled in the ABA Bank Marketing enewsletter sent from the [email protected]. If entrant would like to opt-out of receiving this enewsletter, then entrant can unsubscribe at any time from the link contained in the emailed e-newsletter.

ACCEPTABLE FILE TYPES. To be acceptable, entrants may submit Materials in the following file types. All other file types shall be ineligible and subsequently not included in the judging criteria.

• Video: MPEG, MPG, MP4, MOV, AVI, WMV, M4V
• Audio: MP3, WMA, WAV
• Images: PNG, JPG, JPEG, GIF, TIF, TIFF
• Documents: PDF, PS, DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPS, PPTX, XLS, XLSX, RTF

GENERAL RULES. Materials can be entered in other contests or promotions. Contest Entities and Releasees (as defined below) shall not be responsible for non-conforming, lost, late, incomplete, inaccurate, delayed, undelivered, misdirected, or illegible entries or Materials (or any component thereof) or for inaccurate entry information, whether caused by Sponsor or entrant or by any computer, technical, or human error or malfunction that may occur in the processing or judging of Materials, the administration of this Contest, or in the announcement of winners. Additionally, Contest Entities and Releasees (as defined below) shall not be responsible for incorrect or changed URLs concerning Materials posted on Designated Websites. Incomplete and/or duplicate Materials are not permitted and will be deemed void. The use of any device to automate the entry process is absolutely prohibited, and any such entries shall be void. Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion, to void suspect Materials or entries or to modify, cancel, terminate, or suspend the Contest should a virus, bug, or other cause corrupt or impair the administration, security, or integrity of the Contest.

USE OF MATERIALS AND ENTRY INFORMATION. By entering this Contest and submitting Materials, each entrant, as a condition of participation in the Contest: (a) grants a royalty-free, perpetual, and irrevocable worldwide license, regardless of subsequent assignment or ownership change, exclusive to Sponsor, including Contest Entities (except for the limited rights accorded to Designated Websites through their Terms of Use), to use, edit, alter, adapt, modify, copy, reproduce, publish, display, distribute, transform, create derivative works from, and otherwise show and use (unless prohibited by applicable law) the Materials (including all material embodied therein), in any way or in any media or form, now or hereafter known or developed, in whole or in part, for trade, advertising, promotional, marketing, commercial, or other purposes as Contest Entities determine, in their sole and absolute discretion. Entrants shall not have a right of notice, review, or approval of any such use of the Materials and/or entrant’s name. Each entrant: (a) upon request by Contest Entities or their agents or representatives, shall sign any documents for such purpose; (b) acknowledges and agrees that the Materials (or any part thereof) and/or the entrant’s name may be used in whole or in part, alone or in combination with other works, and that the Materials may be changed, altered, edited, modified, or used in any other manner, as solely determined by Contest Entities; and (c) warrants and represents that entrant has received all rights, releases, licenses, and/or permissions that may be necessary from the following for the use of the Materials as stated: (a) any individual appearing in the Materials; (b) the creator(s) of the Materials; and (c) the owner of all intellectual property contained in the Materials.

JUDGING CRITERIA. All Materials shall be judged based on the following weighted criteria: (1) Concept; (2) Strategy; (3) Creativity; (4) Execution; and (5) Impact/Results. Submission categories and the assigned weighting are as follows: (i) Video Campaign: Concept 10%, Strategy 15%, Creativity 30%, Execution 30%, and Impact/Results 15%; (ii) Integrated Marketing Campaign: Concept 20%, Strategy 20%, Creativity 20%, Execution 20%, and Impact/Results 20%; (iii) Website Redesign: Concept 10%, Strategy 15%, Creativity 20%, Execution 40%, and Impact/Results 15%; (iv) Public Relations / Community Engagement Activity: Concept 10%, Strategy 30%, Creativity 10%, Execution 30%, and Impact/Results 20%; (v) Social Media Campaign: Concept 20%, Strategy 20%, Creativity 20%, Execution 20%, and Impact/Results 20%; (vi) Out of the Box Idea/Create Your Own Category: Concept 20%, Strategy 20%, Creativity 20%, Execution 20%, and Impact/Results 20%. In the event of a tie, all tied entries will be declared a co-winner with duplicative prizes awarded.

SELECTION OF WINNERS. Following the Contest Period, a panel of ABA staff and external bankers shall judge all eligible Materials submitted based on the “Judging Criteria” section above and select one winner in each Category with the exception of ties. Individual entries may not be declared the winner in more than one (1) Submission Category. If an entry is selected as the winner in multiple submission categories, it shall be declared the winner in the submission category in which it received the highest weighted score; the second place finisher shall be declared the winner in the other submission categories.

PRIZES. All category winners will each receive one Lucite trophy. Approximate Retail Value (“ARV”) of each trophy: up to $100. The winning entrant in each category will be highlighted through a variety of ABA publicity channels—including articles on the ABA Banking Journal website, social media and press releases, to be determined in ABA’s sole discretion

HOW TO CLAIM PRIZES. On or about October 7, 2024, Sponsor will announce prize winners at its Marketing Conference in-person and/or virtually. Sponsor or its designee will reasonably attempt to notify the winner of its winning status via the telephone number, email address, and/or mailing address provided in its entry information and mail the prize to winner. To accept and receive the Prize, that entrant must complete, sign, and return an Affidavit of Eligibility (“Affidavit”) and, where lawful, Liability/Publicity Release (“Release”) (collectively, “Affidavit and Release”) by the date indicated in the award notice. If the indicated forms are not signed and returned by the time indicated on the documents, or if the winner does not meet the eligibility criteria, or is otherwise unwilling or unable to comply with these Official Rules, or cannot be contacted, an alternate winner may be selected at and in a manner to be determined in Sponsor’s sole and absolute discretion.

PUBLICITY. Unless prohibited by law, participation in the Contest constitutes each entrant’s consent for Contest Entities to use each entrant’s name and location for Contest or promotional purposes in any media now known or later developed, without payment or consideration to the entrant.

PRIVACY. Sponsor may collect personal data from entrants when they enter this Contest, and this information will be used for the purposes of administering the Contest, publicizing the Contest, and other promotional purposes that benefit Sponsor consistent with the privacy policy on the Contest Website.

GENERAL CONDITIONS. By participating in this Contest, each entrant agrees to be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions or interpretations of Sponsor regarding the Official Rules, which are final and legally binding in all respects. In the event that a prize cannot be awarded for any reason or a winner is not capable of redeeming a prize for any reason, Sponsor shall not be obligated to award any prize, and Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion, whether or not to substitute a prize (or portion of a prize) with a prize of comparable or greater value or cash value. Non-compliance with these Official Rules may result in disqualification. An entrant is not a Winner until it has fully complied with these Official Rules. No transfer, assignment, or substitution of a prize is permitted. Prizes are not exchangeable for merchandise or services.

GENERAL RELEASE AND WAIVER OF CLAIMS. By entering the Contest and/or accepting a prize, each entrant (for itself and its heirs) hereby releases Contest Entities and all of their respective parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, advertising and promotion agencies, and all of their respective directors, officers, governors, employees, shareholders, and agents (collectively, the “Releasees”) from any and all liability, loss, harm, damage, cost, expense, or claims including, but not limited to, third party claims based on: (a) publicity and/or privacy rights, defamation, and intellectual property associated with the entrant or winner’s participation in the Contest, acceptance or redemption of any prize in connection with the Contest, and/or use or misuse of any prize in connection with the Contest, including, but not limited to, all reasonable counsel fees and court costs incurred, property damage, personal injury, and/or death; (b) anything related to the production, promotion, or execution of the Contest (or participation therein), including preemption, cancellation, or rescheduling; and (c) anything that may occur in connection with acceptance and/or use of a prize or while participating in the Contest, even if caused or contributed to by the negligence of Releasees. By participating in the Contest, each entrant shall defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Releasees against any third-party action, suit, or proceeding against Releasees to the extent such claim is based upon an allegation that Materials infringe any rights, including but not limited to intellectual property rights, of a third party.

LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY. Neither Sponsor nor any other Releasee shall be responsible for lost, late, incomplete, stolen, misdirected, illegible, or incomplete entries or entries that violate any rights, including but not limited to intellectual property rights, of any third party. Neither Sponsor nor any other Releasee shall be responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by Sponsor, Releasees, entrants, tampering, or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Contest, and neither Sponsor nor any Releasee shall assume responsibility for any error, omission, defect, theft, destruction, or unauthorized access to the materials related to the Contest or any third party rights violations, including but not limited to intellectual property rights violations. Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion, to disqualify any individual found to be tampering with the entry process, the voting process, or the operation of the Contest; to be acting in violation of these Official Rules; or to be acting in a non-sportsmanlike or disruptive manner, or with intent or apparent intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, embarrass, harm, or harass, in any way, any other person. If for any reason the Contest is not capable of running as planned by reason of, but not limited to, business or market circumstances, force majeure, public health concerns, tampering, unauthorized intervention, actions by entrants or entrants’ parents and/or legal guardians, fraud, or any other causes which, Sponsor in its sole and absolute discretion, deems could corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of the Contest, or the Contest is otherwise not capable of running as planned, Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion, to cancel, terminate, modify, or suspend the Contest. If such malfunction, error, disruption, or damage occurs, and it impairs the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper play of the Contest, Sponsor may, in its sole and absolute discretion, suspend or terminate the Contest or any portion thereof by posting a notice on the Contest Website. If the Contest or any portion of the Contest is terminated before the end of the Contest Period, Sponsor will select winners or the remaining winners from all eligible entries received as of the termination date of the Contest. IN NO EVENT WILL SPONSOR OR ANY RELEASEE BE RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR ANY INJURIES, INFRINGEMENTS, CLAIMS, ACTIONS, DAMAGES, LOSSES, OR LIABILITY OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES RESULTING FROM OR ARISING FROM PARTICIPATION IN, OR THE PRODUCTION, PROMOTION, OR ADMINISTRATION OF, THE CONTEST, OR ACCEPTANCE, POSSESSION, USE, MISUSE, OR NONUSE OF A PRIZE THAT MAY BE AWARDED. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, ALL PRIZES ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. SOME JURISDICTIONS MAY NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, SO SOME OF THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. CHECK YOUR LOCAL LAWS FOR ANY RESTRICTIONS OR LIMITATIONS REGARDING THESE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSIONS. ANY ATTEMPT BY A PARTICIPANT OR ANY OTHER INDIVIDUAL OR ENTITY TO DELIBERATELY UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THE CONTEST IS A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS, AND SHOULD ANY SUCH ATTEMPT BE MADE, SPONSOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SEEK DAMAGES FROM ANY SUCH PERSON OR ENTITY TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

MISCELLANEOUS. Each entry submission is subject to verification by Sponsor. Acceptance of a prize constitutes permission for Sponsor and Contest Entities and their designees to use entrant’s name, Materials, photograph, image, likeness, and/or statement in any manner and in any medium for purposes of advertising and trade without additional compensation, authorization, or remuneration, except where prohibited by law. Participation in the Contest constitutes agreement and acceptance of these Official Rules. Entrants hereby waive any right to claim ambiguity in these Official Rules.

VENUE AND APPLICABLE LAW. This Contest will be administered in the District of Columbia, and by participating, all entrants agree that: (a) the laws of the District of Columbia will apply exclusively to this Contest, and (b) any dispute with respect to this Contest will be resolved exclusively in the federal courts located in the District of Columbia.

WINNERS’ LIST. A list of winners will be posted on the Contest Website available at the www.aba.com/BrandSlam. Winners’ List will include each Winner’s name, location, and prize.

SPONSOR: American Bankers Association (“ABA” or “Sponsor”).

American Bankers Association and ABA logos and ABA Brand Slam are federally registered and protected trademarks and service marks owned by Sponsor.