Help Credit Sesame explore new creative directions by submitting Concepts for new TV commercial spots based on some existing approaches they like.

When you filled out an application for that new riverside apartment downtown, they did a credit check… but you already knew your credit score, right? Maybe you saw it on your bank’s website...7…hundred? ish? Do you know where that number comes from? Or how it impacts your application for that cool apartment? Most of us know our credit score’s important – and yeah, higher numbers are better – but that’s about all we know. For something that has such a *massive* impact on our life, it’d really help a lot of us if we were able to understand and take control of our credit. 

Enter Credit Sesame.

Credit Sesame is a free service that not only lets you access your credit score, but also enables you to understand it, track it, and improve it, which hopefully allows you to then leverage it and get the things you want – like a new car, or a better credit card. If you saw their other TV commercial project, you know Credit Sesame is already making videos. Forget that project! We’re going in a different direction here. Credit Sesame has 4 unique creative approaches that they think may have potential and want you to explore. 

All of these approaches would be used to inspire new “direct response” TV spots. Direct response ads (like this straight-forward one) urge consumers to take action immediately and drive them to the website and app. They’re message-heavy, and not about complete stories. What you’re trying to come up with is how to give a Direct Response ad a unique spin using one of these approaches as inspiration:

Here are the Creative Approaches:

• “Now What?!?” – There are several financial institutions (like banks and credit cards), that give you your credit score, but they stop there. So, cool, you’ve got a number. Now what? What do they expect? Credit Sesame provides you with ways to understand that number and do something about it, but they like that this might take a fun and comedic approach to “Now what?” before transitioning the spot to show how Credit Sesame addresses that question.  
• “Celebrate Your Credit” – You were disciplined, you were diligent, and you made all the right moves. Nice! Sometimes improving your credit score is about trying to reach a specific objective, but since having good credit has such a big impact on your life, sometimes you just need to celebrate good credit itself. This approach is just that – a celebration of your success with Credit Sesame, that transitions into messaging about 
• “Taking Control in the Chaos of Life” – Having good credit is not just about getting an apartment or scoring a better interest rate on a loan. For many of us, life is a state of constant change – of chaos. Rents go up, bills go up, new expenses appear out of nowhere. It’s exhausting and stressful. When you improve your credit though, and start to make better, smarter financial decisions, you can take control, and make huge strides towards real stability. This approach *feels* dramatic, but you can interpret “chaos” and “control” in a number of ways. Don’t be overly literal. 
• “The Personification of Credit Sesame” – What is Credit Sesame? Who is Credit Sesame? Is there a personality? A mascot? Or even a thing that can abstractly represent it? Animated or live-action, you can play on the name or play on the business, and think outside the box. This is about finding a way to visually represent and characterize Credit Sesame within their spot.  

The new Concepts that you create should still be relatable and snappy, but we’re flexible on tone, so you can take a shot with something comedic, wild, ironic, in-your-face, or action-packed. It also helps if your Concept feels like it’s repeatable, and could be used for multiple spots.

Check out more details below…

The goal of this project is to create an original Concept for a 15 or 30-second “direct response” TV spot for Credit Sesame, using one of the 4 existing creative approaches that they’ve provided as inspiration.

Your Concepts can technically be based on more than one approach, but it’ll be difficult to do that well, so you should really try to use only one approach as the basis of your Concept. That said, you can submit up to 5 Concepts, so you can takes a bunch of different shots and take a few risks if you want. Remember, the Concept should still allow for a TV commercial that will be relatable, engaging, and snappy, and it’ll have to be able to include a lot of messaging, so don’t try to squeeze an epic story in. 

--Key Marketing Messages: These are NOT required, but they’re the key messages that will be used for an eventual TV commercial, and if you think they’re helpful, you can riff on them.

• Credit Sesame provides a FREE action plan to improve your credit.
• Access your credit score anytime, for free.
• Credit Sesame helps you learn about and understand your credit score better.
• A better credit score helps you get the things you want.
• Credit Sesame helps you protect your already good credit.
  

--Tone: Upbeat, relatable, friendly, confident, and sensible. Don’t be afraid to use a little bit of humor if it feels right.

--Executional Mandatories:

• You CANNOT explicitly say that Credit Sesame directly improves your credit score. Credit Sesame can provide consumers with a strategy and can help show you how to improve you credit.
• You CANNOT mention any of Credit Sesame’s competitors. There is already some confusion in the market with CreditKarma and we don’t want to add to it.

--Target Audience:

• Credit Sesame is US-only. The service is not available for international consumers.
• The primary demographic is millennials (24-40), and skews towards women (60%).
• Most consumers are credit-worthy already but may have minor negative marks on their credit, if at all. 

This Project will be worth a total of $1,250 and consists of 1 Phase: a Concept Phase. Be sure to read the following information carefully as well as the Official Rules.

PHASE 1: CONCEPT – Select one of the four Creative Approaches from the drop down menu and tell us your Concept for Credit Sesame TV Commercial in 250 characters or less. Remember, a Concept is not a detailed script; it is a spark of inspiration, or a distillation of what will happen in the Video.  As always, Ideas should be clever and engaging. 

The winning Concept creators will receive $250 each. 

1. Unless provided otherwise, all work must be your own original creation and free of any copyrighted material. You shall provide detailed information of your work regarding the source, the creator and background information as requested by Tongal.

2. BY SUBMITTING AN ENTRY, YOUR SUBMISSION IMMEDIATELY BECOMES THE SOLE PROPERTY OF TONGAL OR ITS ASSIGNEES – SEE OFFICIAL RULES FOR MORE DETAILS ABOUT OWNERSHIP OF ENTRIES. YOU MAY NOT PUBLICLY SHARE OR PUBLISH YOUR SUBMISSION IN ANY MANNER AND YOU MAY NOT POST OR UPLOAD YOUR SUBMISSION TO ANY WEBSITE OR VIDEO HOSTING SITE (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, FACEBOOK, YOUTUBE OR VIMEO), WITHOUT THE PRIOR EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT OF TONGAL. FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THIS REQUIREMENT MAY RESULT IN DISQUALIFICATION OF YOUR ENTRY IN THE PROJECT.

3. Submissions cannot contain any profanity, offensive language, nudity or otherwise objectionable material, the determination of which is solely at the discretion of Sponsor.

4. Submissions must not portray Sponsor in a negative way, the determination of which will solely reside with Sponsor.

5. By submitting to this project, you acknowledge that your work may become subject to public voting on the Tongal site. Public voting may be used to help the project sponsor determine the final rank order.

6. Limit 5 submissions per member.

7. You must be at least thirteen (13) years or old.

8. The Sponsor reserves the right to repost the contest at their discretion.

10. Winners must submit the standard Tongal W-9, Winner Affidavit, and IP Assignment.

11. See OFFICIAL RULES for additional contest information, terms and conditions. If there is any conflict or inconsistency between these requirements and the Official Rules, the terms and conditions of these requirements shall prevail.