Help my company... without spending a dime!

[AniaR]

Hey all! Our company joined up into this contest for a small business grant. If we win, we get $10,000CAD. We would use it to buy a tank (we've got it and everything we need all lined up through a friend and some people in the industry who can get certain items for us wholesale), replace some of the failing gear, and get some adult fabric tails made so we can offer local teens and adults mermaid make overs/workshops. Hopefully this would also allow us to hire more mermaids and add more diversity to our staff.

The first round of the contest is based on votes; if we get in the top 5 for most votes then we make it to the second round where a panel of judges makes the final decision.

This is a great opportunity for us, and right now we're in second! The contest runs all of March and people can vote daily. Voting does require a one time sign up but it's simple and they wont spam you. It's just to prevent cheating.

You can vote daily by going here: http://www.adpgrant.ca/contest-preview/?entryid=1207 please vote and share the link, this would make a huge difference for my girls :)

We made some fun videos about it, you can watch them here:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfbHqc4nNHM


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGApHXsA6kI


I think we stand a REALLY good chance at winning :) we were in first for a while but we were overtaken by a ghost hunting company. (yep!) Trying hard to take that lead spot. We really want to show them that there is a fanbase and a client base for mermaids so they will see it's a valuable investment on their end.

Thank you!!!

[MerShellly]

My mom and I have been voting every day since we found out (Mar. 2nd)! So at the end of the month it says that they pick 5 finalists w/ the most votes and choose the winner from those 5? So it's not exactly the one company that gets the most votes right? That confused me a little...

[Mary Marine]

Just voted! I'll be sure to keep voting everyday for you guys!

[AniaR]

Right. We just have to be in top 5 to qualify for the judges :) then they pick

[MerShellly]

U totally will! I'd be surprised if you guys didn't win!

[AniaR]

Fins crossed :) we'll see what happens. We're just going to keep trying and hoping for the best and promoting it. some of my girls REALLY need some new-to-them tails!

[Ryanne]

Just voted^.^ good luck!

[Saelyyia]

Just voted as well. Best of luck to you all.

[Anahita]

I'm trying to remember to vote every day. I have a terrible memory, but I've voted four times so far. Fins crossed.

[Aisling]

Voted every day so far. ^-^

[AniaR]

thanks everyone!

Hey everyone. As you know we've been in this awesome contest by ADP. The focus has been a lot on getting votes because of the potential for a $10,000 prize. But did you know.. there's more to it than that? Not only do the judges judge us based on votes and what we plan on spending the money on... they also want to know how we align with ADP values and what makes us creative. So here I made a blog post that breaks it all down: why mermaids and ADP go so well together. I really hope you'll read it, it's a fun retrospective! It'll give you more insight into the contest, us, and why we feel we should win smile emoticon Don't forget to vote everyday! Check out the blog post: http://halifaxmermaids.weebly.com/blog/-mermaids-and-adp

[Mermaid Enora]

Signed up and voted for two days now!

[AniaR]

Thanks everyone for the support!! It's a new day, don't forget you can vote again today! You can vote once a day. EVERYDAY of March! This is one of the easiest ways you can help out a small business! You're giving us money without having to give us money. So please please please, vote! http://www.adpgrant.ca/contest-preview/?entryid=1207

[Mermaid Galene]

I keep the link open in my browser, which makes it easy to remember to vote every day. What's your latest standing, Raina? At the top, I hope!

[AniaR]

Second. Ghost hunters are in the lead but they have been warned by adp about cheating. They also keep saying mermaids are a stupid company idea which I find hilarious lol

[Winged Mermaid]

Voting every day! I have it in my browser's bookmarks bar so I do it first thing every morning :)

[PearlieMae]

Where are they saying this?

[Mermaidmechanic]

I voted... Ghost hunters huh? I can't let those guys win if they're being all ass hats. Mermaids is a dumb idea? GHOST HUNTING IS A DUMB IDEA! On two sides: either (1) you don't believe in ghosts so its stupid they're chasing make-believe things around or (2) you believe in ghosts and know that its pretty much the stupidest thing you can do to go around fucking with angry spirits.

[OceanRose]

wish I saw this earlier! voted just now, and will vote everyday from now on <3

[MarkF]

AniaR I'm in, 839 votes so far. ( We ain't afraid of no ghosts! )

[Echidna]

GHOST HUNTING IS A DUMB IDEA! On two sides: either (1) you don't believe in ghosts so its stupid they're chasing make-believe things around or (2) you believe in ghosts and know that its pretty much the stupidest thing you can do to go around fucking with angry spirits.

100% spot-on.

[Fifi Tigg]

I hope you win and I've been voting everyday! :mermaid kiss:

[AniaR]

thanks everyone :) they made a private group but didnt realize they had CLIENTS of ours in it. (not spying, they'd just always been in the group) so our clients got mad when they started bashing us and cheating and called them on it. I didn't have anyway to prove anything and didnt think anything had been reported but apparently it was! so yay. I really want to win, but at least if someone beats us I want them to win fairly you know? And there's no need to publicly bash other entrants. We're all just small businesses trying to do our best! There's a lot of unique ones. They don't have a very big following, no website or anything. But I think they might still be cheating because of comments he made, and because in an hour they'll get like 300 votes. He was encouraging people earlier to use multiple emails (against the rules).

But really, we just have to stay where we are and be sure to be in the top 5. :) that's how we make it to the second round. :) so thank you!

[Mermaid Galene]

What Mark said! We will just to bust those ghosts!

[Mary Marine]

Been voting everyday and boy is it satisfying watching that tally go up. 1377!

[AniaR]

thank you so much everyone! :)

[Merfin_Aurora_Oceania]

I'll vote everyday for you! I wish you all the best and I hope you come fluke up :)

[AniaR]

A lot of entries are cheating and we've lost our spot in the top 5. It is infuriating.... They only seem to give out warnings. In less than 12 hours one group that spent most of the month around 100 votes now has 2600+. A GPS company that just entered now has 6000.

We have 2200+ and 8 days left. We only have to be in the top 5. It has been hard we were in 2nd place so long now in 12 hours we are 6th or 7th.

Please please vote once a day and invite others!!!

[Mermaid Freyja]

Voted! And I'll continue to vote through the remainder of March. I'll boost this signal on FB, too and wherever I can.
XOXOX

[MarkF]

Your worthy of the help and think you would have more benefit from the infusion of cash, more so than GPS bunch and rest of the companies. I know how their cheating, I don't know anything we can do to stop it.
If ADP used only Canadian voters I think that would spoil the cheaters, you have a lot of legit supporters from out of country though.
Good luck and Keep voting.

[AniaR]

Hey everyone, thanks for the support. People are getting desperate and many are beyond cheating at this point. I am hoping as the judging period starts the judges will boot all those people out. But we can't know what they'll do for sure. All we know is we need to stay in the top 5. Please please please vote and share. Thank you! http://www.adpgrant.ca/contest-preview/?entryid=1207

[PearlieMae]

Voted!

[AniaR]

Thank you

[Mermaid Sabie]

Gah crummy to hear that people are cheating :( Still voting for you guys every day!!

[AniaR]

Thanks it means a lot

[Winged Mermaid]

Been voting every day! I really hope they keep an eye on these people... thousands of votes fast like that is a dead giveaway of cheating.. I hope they recognize it and do something :(

[Saelyyia]

Definitely hope the judges deal with the cheaters justly. I've been voting every day. Best of luck to you!

[AniaR]

yeah I really hope they do something about it, it's kinda obnoxious. I just caught the #1 group trying to bug the reporters who did stories on us asking them to do them on them?? like seriously??? >.<

[OceanRose]

How do we know who's in the lead? I've been voting everyday too <3

[PearlieMae]

#2651 :yay:

[AniaR]

It worked for you? It wont work for any one today. Not me, my girls, friends, family etc everyone is saying its giving the message they voted already... Even though they didn't. I've been trying all day

[PearlieMae]

I was getting a login error message, I reloaded the page and when I did, the counter had jumped up by one. I assumed I got to vote!

[Mermaid Wesley]

I'm having that problem too. I havent been able to vote for 2 days now.

[Winged Mermaid]

I'm having that problem too. I havent been able to vote for 2 days now.

Me too :( I emailed them and let them know. They said they're working on it.

[OceanRose]

It's up to 2723 right now, so since Pearlie posted earlier, it's gone up

[AniaR]

28538

[AniaR]

Emailed ADP and the verification emails seem to be working now! Please click "resend verification email" and it'll go into your inbox (check spam) click the link, and it'll redirect you to the ADP website. IN the search box put in ""Halifax Mermaids" we'll come up and you can vote for us. I suspect they did this to stop people from using cheating methods to get their votes! Thanks! http://www.adpgrant.ca/contest-preview/?entryid=1207

[AniaR]

Voting is back!! Please vote www.adpgrant.ca/contest-preview/?entryid=1207

[AniaR]

Hey everyone, we only have a few days left! ADP seemed to have put a stop to the cheating but didnt remove the insane amount of votes others got while cheating. We're currently barely in #4 and will be knocked to 5 very soon. We just need to stay within that 5 for a few more days so we stand a chance. Thanks so much for voting! best fishes!

http://www.adpgrant.ca/contest-preview/?entryid=1207

[MerShellly]

That's awesome! I think it's the least we can do:); you've done so much for the mer community! Thank u!

[AniaR]

Thank you. We did get knocked to 5th. Hoping we can keep our spot or get back in 4th

[Mermaid Wesley]

good luck!
I voted :)

[Princess Pearl]

My vote this morning was officially 3000!

28649

[Yulia]

I've been voting too, can't let those cheaters win! :mad:

[AniaR]

THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE. We are neck and neck with another group. This particular group is actually playing fair which is good. We keep getting to 4 and then they bump us to 5. lol If we could manage to get a few hundred votes we could get back to third. But honestly we will take just staying in 5th so long as we stay there.

Last night I got a bunch of Canadian celebs to share it which was cool :) And it went viral on twitter. Not enough yet though! We'll keep at er.

Today and tomorrow are the last days for voting. We are neck and neck when it comes to keeping our spot in the top 5. Thank you so much to everyone who has voted so far. Your support and love has meant the world to us. We want to keep making people happy with mermaid experiences. Please take the time to vote today and tomorrow, it really makes a difference! If we manage to stay in the top 5- we'll find out mid to late April who the winner is :) http://www.adpgrant.ca/contest-preview/?entryid=1207

[Mermaid Wesley]

Question- is the cutoff at midnight or 24 hrs from the last vote?

[AniaR]

on the main page adpgrant.ca there's a countdown timer. It's midnight THEIR time, but the timer is up. Last month I saw that the votes stopped registering when there was still 12 hours left...

[Mermaid Wesley]

Ah ok. That's probably why it wouldn't let me vote today :(


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[AniaR]

Sorry by the timer is up I meant up on the page, not done. if you voted before/after midnight on their end it'll make you wait a full 24 hours before it lets you again yeah :(

BUT THANKS FOR TRYING. *glomp*

[Mermaid Wesley]

OH! ok well I voted now :)

[AniaR]

Thanks everyone for voting, today is the last day be sure to get your vote in early before they close the contest. Hopefully we stay in 5th! http://www.adpgrant.ca/contest-preview/?entryid=1207

[AniaR]

THANK YOU EVERYONE.

We made it to the finals and now everything is in the hands of the judges. :) We did all we could and sincerely appreciate your support. We should know by mid to late April.

[AniaR]

29128

*hyperventilating*

[MerShellly]

Yeah buddy! I told you you'd win lolz! :highfive: Congrats!!!

[Keiris]

29128

*hyperventilating*
RAINA THAT'S AWESOME!!!! CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU! You must be so thrilled and proud! Good for you!!! Your hard work and perseverance paid off!:D

[OceanRose]

OMG!!!!! YASSSS!!!!!!

[Mer-Crazy]

All I can say is "Take that ghost busters!"

[Princess Pearl]

All I can say is "Take that ghost busters!"

We ain't afraid of no ghosts?

[Maclanahan]

CONGRATS!!!

[MarkF]

You earned it! Enjoy.
Congratulations, we want pics.

[Mermaid Ruthie]

CONGRATS!!!!:yay::highfive::clap::cheerleader::che erleader::cheerleader::cheerleader::cheerleader:

[Mermaid Galene]

Such great news! Congratulations!! :clap:

[Meronica]

Congratulations Raina! (: You deserve it!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Cordelia]

Woohoo! :D

[AniaR]

Thanks everyone we are pretty floored

[Mermaid Enora]

Congrats!!!!!

[AniaR]

Newspaper article about us: http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/1282304-halifax-mermaids-make-a-big-splash-at-contest

[Mermaid Aika]

Congratulations!:dance:

[SINicallyTwisted]

YAY! Congrats!:cheerleader:

[Fun123joker]

niiiiiiiiccccceeeeee B)

congradz on the win!

[AniaR]

Hey folks, ADP Released a series of videos from our check award I wanted to share.

PLEASE FORGIVE MY LISP I just had my braces tightened lol


https://youtu.be/T4JibLGeFeQ


https://youtu.be/WFTg9-DZ0dY


https://youtu.be/qTo44ilshbQ


https://youtu.be/QmrxZrWpS6Q

[PearlieMae]

So awesome! Congratulations!!!

[MarkF]

You made it look fun and you came across great on video. Great job!

[AniaR]

I just wish I wasnt so lispy. it was not good timing haha. thanks so much