This Disclosure policy is effective as of June 23, 2011
The relevant FTC announcement can be found here: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/endortest.shtm
Rand McNally (operated by RM Acquisition, LLC) is sponsoring the Rand McNally Best of the Road® program and promotion in its search for the “best” small towns in America. This blog is a sponsored blog created or supported by Rand McNally (operated by RM Acquisition, LLC). This disclosure policy applies to the Best of the Road® website (www.bestoftheroad.com) and related blog posts, tweets and other social media sponsored or created by Rand McNally. Rand McNally is in the business of selling maps, road atlases, navigation devices, fleet vehicle tracking devices and online travel referral services.
A part of Rand McNally’s Best of the Road® promotion is a “road rally” during which five teams (two contestants each) drive across the country to visit the small town finalists as determined by the Best of the Road promotion and Rand McNally editors and tell Rand McNally, its website, blog visitors and social media connections about the contestant’s road rally experiences.
In addition to the unique opportunity to travel around the country, these contestants are participating in the road rally in hopes of winning a grand prize of $10,000 (see the Official Rules for more details, (http://www.bestoftheroad.com/rallyRules.do ).
Rand McNally does have certain sponsors for its Best of the Road® program. Here is a short description of the sponsors and what they’ve offered the Best of the Road®rally teams:
- Saab Cars North America has loaned a Saab car to each team to drive during the Best of the Road® rally. These cars can be identified with the Best of the Road®decals on the sides of the cars.
- Shell has provided each Best of the Road® rally team with gas cards to pay for gas to help them get across the country.
- Country Inns & Suites by Carlson and Radisson Hotels (both brands by Carlson Hotels, Inc.) has offered complimentary accommodations and breakfast to each team.
- Rand McNally also provided the Best of the Road® rally teams sponsorship support in the forms of :
- some spending money for certain incidental expenses as they make their way across the country.
- a new TripMaker® RVND™ 5510 navigation devices. (This is the first GPS device designed specifically for RVs!)
- a iPod Touch to take videos and pictures on the road and send them back to us.
- shirts with logos.
So, the reality is the Best of the Road® rally teams have accepted forms of cash and or other forms of compensation as part of their participation in this rally. You can see the Best of the Road® rally rules here (http://www.bestoftheroad.com/rallyRules.do ).
We’ve instructed the Best of the Road® rally team members to be honest in their posts. However, they’re human, so the compensation received may influence their content, topics or posts. That content or post may not always be identified as paid or sponsored content.
Again, Rand McNally has instructed the Best of the Road® rally team members / contestants to give honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences while traveling on the rally. The views and opinions expressed in blogs, tweets or other social media are purely the Best of the Road® rally team members’ own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a Rand McNally’s or other sponsors’ product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.
As the Best of the Road® rally takes off, Rand McNally wanted to make sure that the public reading the blogs, tweets and other social media posted by Best of the Road® rally team member understand the framework of the Best of the Road® promotion. Rand McNally may need to add more to this disclosure as the Best of the Road® rally moves forward.