In the past 48 hours, you may have had the following reactions to news that Snapchat turned down a cool $3,000,000,000 buyout from Facebook:

1. “Huh, What the f*** is Snapchat?”
2. "Are the founders of Snapchat out of their minds?”
3. “How can a company that makes no money be valued at $3,000,000,000?  My burnout older brother doesn’t make any money and no one has valued him at three billion.”

The big thing Snapchat has going for it is a huge and voracious user base (350 million messages a day), but unlike Twitter and Facebook, brands have yet to really figure out how to use Snapchat’s platform.   

That’s where you come in, loyal Tongalers.  We’re (we = Tongal, NOT Snapchat) putting some cash on the line and asking you:

How should brands be using Snapchat?  You can brainstorm about brands in general, or maybe you have a specific brand in mind – just let it rip!

The goal of this project is to brainstorm ideas for how brands should be using Snapchat.

Inspiration: Snapchat recently launched their “Stories” feature – could Brands be using that in some awesome way?

This Project will be worth a total of $2,500 and consists of ONE phase: an Idea Phase. Be sure to read the following information carefully as well as the Official Rules.

PHASE 1: BRAINSTORM  – Tell us your brainstorm for how brands should be using Snapchat in 500 characters or less.   Choose from the drop-down menu and specify whether your idea is for a specific brand strategy, or strategy for brands in general.  The five (5) winning Brainstormers will receive $500 each.

PHASE 2: COMMUNITY VOTING - The community will review the submissions and determine the final ranking.

PHASE 3: SUGGESTIONS – In 140 characters or less, suggest ways to improve the winning brainstorms from Phase 1.  For example, "This brainstorm for how brands could use Snapchat could be improved by..." Tongal will select up to 10 suggestions that add value to the proposed solutions, and if yours is selected you’ll earn $20. Limit five (5) submissions, per member.

Note: this project is being run solely by Tongal.

Tongal is the trademark of Tongal, Inc. and other marks listed are held by their respective owners.

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, 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. Limit 5 submissions per member, per Phase.

6. You must be at least thirteen (13) years or older to enter.