Sprout Social Advertising

Participating Bands Can Create Demo Tape and Viral Widget Hosted by Sprout

San Francisco, May 21, 2009 – Sprout, the leader in social media strategy and campaigns, today announced that its technologies are being utilized in the Rock the Space competition on MySpace, in which unsigned bands and solo artists submit an original song for a chance to win a record deal with MySpace Records. Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), USA, Inc., MySpace and MySpace Records are bringing this once-in-a lifetime opportunity to the MySpace community.

Saatchi & Saatchi LA, Toyota’s agency of record, approached Sprout to provide the technology for a viral widget. The widget, which looks like a demo tape, allows bands and artists to promote their submissions within their online communities. The demo tape will include a band’s name, song and link to their MySpace band profile and image. Participants will have the option to customize the look and feel of their tape. Saatchi LA also brought on interactive agency Schematic to work with with Sprout and MySpace on the Toyota-sponsored campaign.

“We are excited to be working with Toyota and MySpace to develop the social media component of the Rock the Space competition,” said Carnet Williams, co-founder and CEO of Sprout. “This competition taps into the popular music culture built on MySpace and adds social media tools that bands can use to create their own online music campaign with the hopes of launching their career.”

“We came to Sprout both because of its background in creating engaging social media campaigns and portable content, and because we knew they could get us to market quickly,” said Matthew Pollock, Content and Interactive Producer for Saatchi LA. “With Sprout’s expertise we were able to create a fun campaign experience that we know bands will enjoy and share with their fans across MySpace.”

Once published, the demo tape will become a fully interactive viral widget that can be placed on a band’s MySpace page, website, blog or other social networking sites to promote the contest and solicit votes. The demo tapes will also reside on the Toyota Music MySpace home page in a thumbnail image gallery in which viewers can click on a demo tape image and be directed to an artist or band’s Toyota Music MySpace page or their MySpace profile page.

The Rock the Space winner will be announced in September and will receive a recording contract as well as a $10,000 prize package provided by Fender. The winner’s song will also be available for download on the MySpace Music Home Page. The four runners-up win a MySpace Records Development Deal friends package.

For more information or to submit for Rock the Space, please visit: www.myspace.com/toyotamusic.

About Sprout

Sprout helps brands develop and deploy engagement campaigns across diverse social networks. The Sprout platform solves a problem that has been plaguing new media marketers for years – How to quickly create brand experiences that are easily transportable across Facebook, MySpace and other social networks without having to find and hire expensive development resources. With Sprout, agencies and brands can create rich experiences that marry brand assets with UGC to capture social gestures and allow advocates to share their experiences with friends. Funded by Polaris Venture Partners, Sprout is based in Honolulu, HI and San Francisco, CA. To learn more, please visit http://sproutinc.com.

About Saatchi & Saatchi LA
Saatchi & Saatchi LA is a full-service agency with both traditional and non-traditional capabilities, including media, creative, strategic planning, 3D asset creation, design and event marketing. The agency was awarded a prestigious Gold Effie for its highly effective launch of the Toyota Tundra full-size truck. Saatchi LA is agency of record for Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., and it also serves Toyota Dealer Associations and Toyota Financial Services. The LA office is the third largest in the global network of ideas company Saatchi & Saatchi, part of Publicis Groupe. For more information, go to www.saatchila.com.