What’s up, Tongal? I’m just your friendly, neighborhood kid who has no background in marketing or advertising, and yet somehow I am ranked #13 on the All-Time Ideation Leaderboard. Surprised? Me too.
You’re probably thinking, “Hey, if he can do it, then I can too!” and you would be absolutely correct. I believe anyone can find success in Ideation on Tongal, but to help get you started I have compiled some tips and tricks. Are they slightly unorthodox? Sure, but let’s remember, I don’t have any background in this kind of thing - but honestly, the lack of professional experience might make these tips even better (or at the very least, something you haven’t considered before). And now that the introduction is out of the way, let’s get into it:
1. Submit ideas to projects you think you have no chance of winning
Yeah, that project about a product you’ve never heard of? Submit to it. If you only submit to projects you think you have a chance of winning, you’ll be substantially lowering your odds of finding any success. Tongal is kind of a number’s game, and there is a direct correlation between how many ideas you submit and how many of your ideas win. And while this is not a sure-fire technique, at the very least it’ll be good writing practice for the projects you’re better suited for. Plus, you never know where you’ll find success! You might just win a project because you have an outside perspective.
2. Take notes on the winners
Did none of your ideas win for a certain project? As Forrest Gump says, “It happens.” There will be plenty of projects where your ideas are not selected, but that doesn’t mean your work is done. One of the most important things to do is to go back to the project and look at all of the ideas that won. In doing so, you’ll learn a thing or two about syntax and diction from the people who are doing it right. You’ll also gain something truly invaluable: insight into the minds of the brands. If you can walk away from a project having a better understanding of what brands are looking for in a winning idea, then you’re one step closer to having a winning idea yourself!
3. Become one with the target demographic
Remember when I said that it’s important to get into the mindset of a brand and to understand what they want out of an idea? Well, that’s still true. But, what’s also important is to get into the mindset of a consumer! On most projects for Tongal, the brand will outline a clear demographic of who the video is for, whether it’s soccer moms who eat carrots on the weekends or truck drivers who also listen to pop music. Sometimes, you’ll come across a demographic that you don’t interact with much in your day-to-day life, so it’s important to just be an active listener in the world. The next time you’re at a coffee shop or riding on the train, take your headphones out and (politely) listen in to other people’s conversations. This is a classic exercise for screenwriters across the world, but it helps all creatives who are trying to better understand what the target demographics want, who they are, and how they act. If you can better understand these things, then you come up with better ideas that will actually interest the target demographic (and brand).
4. Re-familiarize yourself with the unfamiliar
This one seems like a no-brainer, but can you remember the last time you watched a commercial that wasn’t a Super Bowl commercial? Yeah, me neither. With streaming services mostly cutting out commercials, it’s easy to be ignorant about what commercials look like today. Knowing how contemporary commercials function can be super helpful in crafting your own commercial idea, so do a little research! [Ed. Note: We recommend applying this tip to videos on any channel, not just TV commercials. For example, if the brand intends to publish the video on Facebook, look up great examples of Facebook videos.]
5. Benefit from being cool, calm, and collected sometimes, and under immense pressure other times
Your brain functions differently when you have 24 hours to think of an idea versus when you have 24 minutes. Sometimes your best ideas will come with a lot of refining and planning, and sometimes they’ll come as you’re furiously trying to beat the clock. With this in mind, try submitting three out of your five total ideas early on in the process. This way, you can refine the ideas and make sure they’re well polished. However, wait until the last hour before the deadline to submit the final two ideas. This will light a creative fire under you and inspire ideas that you never knew you had inside. Some of my biggest wins on Tongal have come from ideas that have literally been submitted seconds before the deadline because these are the ideas that come from that magical panic place in your brain.
6. Switch it up
It can be hard to get out of a slump, and sometimes you just need a little change of scenery. Try writing and submitting some ideas from your phone. Maybe write out some ideas on paper, or even submit from a coffee shop. Unless you have a perfect winning formula that guarantees every one of your ideas will win, it’s probably best to shake things up every once in awhile!
7. Turn to the unexpected for writing advice
Submitting an idea on Tongal is largely a test of creative writing, and it can be very hard to communicate everything you want to say in 140 characters. However, Tongal is not unique in their restrictive format. Most writers are restricted by how much they can write. Writers are constantly being creative with how they communicate their messages in as few words as possible, and that’s happening all around you! Of course, you won’t learn from them through osmosis. You have to actively seek out the learning opportunities. So go on Twitter, read a book of haikus, and take note of the words on a billboard! While the carefully selected words may not help you come up with ideas, they’ll definitely help you better communicate your future winning ideas!
8. Change your homepage
One of the biggest problems ideators run into is not engaging with Tongal enough. Sure, there’s the issue of forgetting about a deadline and not submitting any ideas at all to a project, but there’s also the issue of just not thinking enough about a project. Let’s do a little math:
Question: If Person A has never been on Tongal, and does not know about Tongal projects, how much will they think about any given project?
Answer: Not at all.
Now, this isn’t to say you should spend every waking second on Tongal, but do check in a couple times a day. Odds are, you won’t be thinking about the projects every second of your life, so making Tongal your homepage is a great little trick to refresh your memory and maybe spark an idea or two, even if it’s simply by reminding you that a project exists!
9. Celebrate everything and anything
Tongal should be fun, and if it’s not then you have to make it fun! I find the best way to do this is to celebrate everything and anything. Do not only celebrate if your idea wins - celebrate every time you submit an idea you’re proud of because that’s an accomplishment in itself! Statistically speaking, it is 100% easier to not submit to Tongal than it is to submit, so the fact that you put in the work and did something cool with your time is cause for celebration. So go ahead and pat yourself on the back, buy yourself a candy bar every time you submit to a project, and just have fun with it all. If you can have fun every time you submit an idea to Tongal, you’ll have better motivation than anyone else, especially the people who are only driven by the thought of winning.
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Note From Tongal: “Unorthodox Creative Strategies for Successful Ideation” is part of a series of Tongal Community-written blog posts that were originally sourced in the Write What You Know Tongal Blog Project. Read more Tongal Community-written posts here and stay tuned for more opportunities to Pitch a topic and write for the Tongal Blog!
