Epson Partners with CNBC's 'Make Me a Millionaire Inventor' to Help Bring Innovative Ideas to Life

LONG BEACH, Calif.—Aug. 24, 2015—Epson America has expanded its partnership with NBCUniversal on the recently debuted CNBC primetime show, "Make Me a Millionaire Inventor," to support small business success and innovation. Through custom vignettes that provide small business tips and technology solutions, including the Epson SureColor T-Series printers, Epson BrightLink Pro collaborative meeting room solutions and Epson EcoTank all-in-one Supertank color printers with large ink reservoirs, the partnership inspires small businesses to bring their innovative product concepts to reality.

Along with the custom vignettes, the Epson BrightLink Pro 1430Wi is featured in the CNBC primetime show, providing the Blue Fish Studio engineering team with a valuable asset in the design process. In the August 19 episode, the 1430Wi is used to demonstrate how Blue Fish Studio turned the SnoCone kiosk design into reality. The annotation functionality provided inventors Shane and Maria Freeman of Beaumont, Texas with clear insight into the design changes Blue Fish Studio made in order to create a prototype.

“From entrepreneurs looking to venture out on their own, to inventors and designers looking to solve a need, individuals and small businesses should be empowered to innovate,” said Lucie Milanes, Epson’s director of marketing strategy and communications. “The partnership with CNBC’s ‘Make Me a Millionaire Inventor’ aligns with Epson’s national brand campaign, ‘Where there’s business there’s EPSON’ in empowering inventors to succeed.”

The custom content created with CNBC for the vignette series airs during ‘Make Me a Millionaire Inventor,’ where Deanne Bell and George Zaidan travel the country looking for inventors with simple ideas that have great potential to be revolutionary, as well as on CNBC.com and across Epson’s social media channels. Each vignette was co-developed by NBCUniversal’s Content Innovation Agency in collaboration with Epson, Newcast/Zenith, and NBCUniversal’s Client Solutions team. The vignettes also remind viewers to tune in to ‘Make Me a Millionaire Inventor’ (Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CNBC) as inventors build, test and perfect their products for the biggest pitch of their lives.

“The expanded partnership with NBCUniversal provided a platform to connect with small business owners,” said Susan Smith, executive vice president, Newcast/Zenith. “Integrating the Epson BrightLink Pro into the fabric of ‘Make Me a Millionaire Inventor’ and developing a custom content series demonstrated the impact that Epson products can have on small businesses.”

Christina Glorioso, senior vice president, Client Solutions, NBCUniversal, commented that the partnership with Epson highlights the two company's shared commitment to small businesses. “Through the branded content around the new ‘Make Me a Millionaire Inventor’ primetime series, original digital resources and social media extensions, we continue to find new ways to deliver informative and relevant content to our passionate audience of small businesses,” she stated.

CNBC in primetime is a distinct brand where business and entrepreneurism are the main focus. To view the custom vignettes, visit www.cnbc.com/small-business-tips/ and for more insight into the “Where There’s Business There’s EPSON” campaign and Epson’s commitment to the business community, visit www.Epson.com/forbusiness.

About Epson
Epson is a global technology leader dedicated to driving innovations and exceeding customer expectations in printing, visual communications, quality of life and manufacturing. Epson’s lineup ranges from inkjet printers, printing systems and 3LCD projectors to industrial robots, smart glasses and sensing systems and is based on original compact, energy-saving, and high-precision technologies. Led by the Japan-based Seiko Epson Corp., the Epson Group comprises nearly 70,000 employees in 94 companies around the world, and is proud of its contributions to the communities in which it operates and its ongoing efforts to reduce environmental burdens. Epson America, based in Long Beach, California, is Epson’s regional headquarters for the United States, Canada and Latin America.

About NBCUniversal
NBCUniversal is one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. NBCUniversal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment television networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, world-renowned theme parks, and a suite of leading Internet-based businesses. NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corp.

Source: Epson.