The Locally Laid Egg Co. of Wrenshall, Minn., has finished as runner-up in the contest to win a 30-second advertisement spot during Sunday's Super Bowl. The small-business software company Intuit had picked Locally Laid as one of its four finalists for the contest in November.

Lucie Amundsen of Locally Laid told the Star Tribune on Thursday: "We can't be anything more than grateful." While the company lost out on the opportunity for an advertising spot during the Denver-Seattle game that is estimated to be worth $3 million, it did earn some other tangible benefits.

Locally Laid will get a professionally done commercial from the Santa Monica, Calif., ad agency RPA, which worked with Intuit on the contest. That commercial will be shown nationally during another Fox Sports broadcast and also shown in Locally Laid's markets in the Twin Cities and Duluth.

Plus Amundsen and her husband Jason are guests of Intuit throughout the weekend of Super Bowl festivities in New York. On Monday, they will help Intuit ring Nasdaq's opening bell to start the day's trading.

Lucie Amundsen said she appreciated the attention the contest brought to their company and the benefits of eggs from their pasture-raised chickens. She also reported that the company's spokes­chicken, Lola, is taking the runner-up finish well.

"I like to think that Lola was a good sport about it," she said.

The winner of the online poll was GoldieBlox, a California maker of building toys for young girls. That ad is scheduled to run in the third quarter of Sunday's Super Bowl broadcast.

Patrick Kennedy