Imagine a limitless artistic medium, where you aren’t confined by oils, available light, or materials. Where it’s just you and the endless expanse of colors the universe has to offer. Because when it comes down to it color is the ultimate form of expression. It is the first impression and the last impression all rolled into one. It can be primal and instinctual or nuanced and complex. Color quite simply can say it all.

For over a century, Rit Dye has been providing people from all walks of life with the means to express themselves through color and, trust us, it goes way beyond the guy twisting out a tie-dye t-shirt at the further festival; there are countless ways Rit allows people to express themselves and personalize their world through color. Now this is where we could give you clever and resourceful examples of how people use Rit Dye, but we know you can do better.

Rit Dye is asking the Tongal community to create videos showing the broad usages of this dynamic product  and the wide range of people and personality types who love Rit. They want you to awaken the crafter inside of all of us and inspire everyone to personalize their world through color.

The goal of this project is to create a 90-120 second Video around the story of a unique Rit project completed by someone within one of the 7 core Rit Dye user groups. The video should show the rich, emotional reward Rit Dyers get from dyeing things and need to capture the passion and enthusiasm they have when using the product.

The core user groups and some examples are:

Millennials (50% male and 50% female) ages 18 -29: Dyeing Fashion, Home Décor, Gifts, Sports Equipment

• Bride and bridal party dyeing flowers for the wedding

• Dude’s customized sneakers or surfer shorts

• Young couple dyeing IKEA furniture or Pottery Barn bed linens

Young Moms (female) ages 25 – 45: Dyeing Fashion, Home Décor, Projects with Kids, Restoring items

• Young mom dyeing Halloween costumes with child

Crafters/Quilters (75% female/25% male): Dyeing Fashion, Home Décor, Gifts, Art Projects, Wood, Wicker, Paper

• Knitting club members dyeing yarn

• Crafters dyeing stationery for notes

Cars/Sports/Hobbyist (75% male/25% Female) ages 25+: Dyeing car parts, sports equipment, robot parts, knife handles, golf Frisbees…

• Lacrosse team dyeing net on lacrosse stick

DIY Home Improvement (50% male/50% female) ages 25+: Dyeing furniture, wood shop projects, nylon switch plates, birdhouses…

• Young couple dyeing their credenza

• Young couple dyeing cabinet knobs

Youth – Art, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Summer Camps (teachers, counselors, volunteers): Dyeing t-shirts, costumes, paper, wood crafts

• Girl Scouts dyeing bandanas for police dogs.

• Dad and son dyeing soap box cars.

Professionals – Film, Theater, Broadway, Fashion (Costume designers/Artists): Dyeing clothes, sets, anything they can think of

• High school drama club dyeing costumes and sets

• Dancers dyeing shoes.

These “Stories” need to show how Rit Dye is the catalyst to unleashing dyer’s ability to personalize their surroundings and capture their enthusiasm for adding color to their project.  Each story should include:

• Project being made with Rit Dye

• What inspired the project?

• How easy, fun, challenging, etc was the project (what were the trials and tribulations incurred during the project)?

• Why should more people add color to their lives with Rit Dye?

THESE ARE NOT “HOW TO” VIDEOS!  While viewers should be inspired to dye things and they may try to do what they see on the video, these are not “classes.” These are documentaries of real Rit users and their unique Rit Project Stories. 

These films should wake up the “Rit Studio” in everyone who watches them because it shows the breadth of types of people that dye with Rit as well as the breadth of things you can dye with Rit.

-- Key Marketing Message: Rit is about self-expression and personalization of your world through color.  The brand itself is alive, cheerful, selfless, because it is all about YOU.  Inclusive, because anyone can dip something in dye and have a great result!

-- Target Audience: DIY, creative people that like making things themselves and are always looking for new ideas and ways to create. Demographically, this can span from 20 year-olds in their first apartment learning to dye lacrosse heads for their club team to 94 year-old quilters using low emersion dyeing fabric for a special quilt.

-- Tone: Authentic, real, colorful, and approachable. Cast must be passionate about dyeing and inspiring individuals.

-- Executional Mandatories:

• Any dyeing activity must show dyer using rubber gloves.

• Prefer showing Rit Liquid Dye over Powder, but if the consumer uses powder, please show what they prefer.

• The Rit Dye needs to be in current packaging (not outdated).

• Never show users putting dye or dye water in mouth or show any type of human or animal consumption.

• Do not show usage in a porcelain sink or tub. When dyeing, the counter top or table where dyeing must be protected with a plastic drop cloth or something of similar quality.

• If dyeing on grass, protection is not needed. All stories need to end with a call to visittheritstudio.com.

-- Exposure: YouTube, Website, Customer websites, Mobile Apps, Facebook, etc.

This project will be worth a total of $45,000 and consist of three phases, a Story Phase, a Pitch Phase and a Video Phase. Be sure to read the following information carefully as well as the Official Rules.

PHASE 1: Story – Submit a picture and tell us YOUR unique Rit Dye Story that would inspire a compelling 90-120 second video in 500 characters or less. Story submitters should be a member of one of the seven core user groups and these stories should be personal:

• Millennials (50% male and 50% female) ages 18 -29: Dyeing Fashion, Home Décor, Gifts, Sports Equipment

• Young Moms (female) ages 25 – 45: Dyeing Fashion, Home Décor, Projects with Kids, Restoring items

• Crafters/Quilters (75% female/25% male): Dyeing Fashion, Home Décor, Gifts, Art Projects, Wood, Wicker, Paper

• Cars/Sports/Hobbyist (75% male/25% Female) ages 25+: Dyeing car parts, sports equipment, robot parts, knife handles, golf Frisbees…

• DIY Home Improvement (50% male/50% female) ages 25+: Dyeing furniture, wood shop projects, nylon switch plates, birdhouses…

• Youth – Art, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Summer Camps (teachers, counselors, volunteers): Dyeing t-shirts, costumes, paper, wood crafts

• Professionals – Film, Theater, Broadway, Fashion (Costume designers/Artists): Dyeing clothes, sets, anything they can think of.

Each story needs to capture the passion and enthusiasm you have for dyeing things as well as cover the following essential information:

• Project being made with Rit Dye

• What inspired the project?

• How easy, fun, challenging, etc was the project (what were the trials and tribulations incurred during the project)?

• Why should more people add color to their lives with Rit Dye?

Seven winning Idea creators will each receive $250 and a 5% one-time residual payment for every winning Video their Story is used to generate. (That means if your winning Story is the basis for the 1st place Video, you will receive $500, the 2nd place Video $312.50, the 3rd place Video $250 and so on) – see Video Phase Payout details below.

IMPORTANT NOTE – Payment for a win in this phase will be contingent on your cooperation with the winning filmmaker selected to bring your Story to life in the subsequent Pitch Phase.

PHASE 2: PITCH – Using text (500 characters or less), images (storyboards), video, and external links (to other supporting assets, i.e., your reel, etc.), give us your Pitch (What Is a Pitch Phase?) for how YOU would go about producing a 90-120 second Video based on one of the winning Stories from the previous phase. The Seven most compelling Pitches will be selected and will receive $2,000 to help create their Video. Those winners (upon submitting their Winner's Affidavit and IP Assignment) will also be GUARANTEED a winning place in the subsequent Video Phase. So, if your Pitch is selected and you submit a video during the Video Phase, you will win an additional $2,000, at a minimum, and have a chance to compete for the $12,000 first place Video prize (subject to deduction for one-time 5% residual payment). Remember your Pitch can include any, and all, of the assets mentioned above and you MUST include a link to some of your previous video work on Tongal or elsewhere to be considered for this phase. For an example of an effective pitch, check out Erik Beck’s winning “3 Artists & 5,000 LEGOs” Pitch. All Pitches will remain private until after the winners of the Video Phase are announced and the Project is complete. Keep in mind, if you don’t win the Pitch Phase or choose not to create a Pitch, you will still have the opportunity to create and submit a “Wild Card” Video. 

IMPORTANT NOTE TO PITCH SUBMITTERS - If you win in the Pitch Phase, you will be required to make your own travel arrangements to film the Story winner from the previous phase, so please ensure that their geographic location is taken into consideration when Pitching. 

PHASE 3: VIDEO – The Seven winners from the Pitch Phase will create a 90-120 second video based upon their winning Pitches, and all other creators are invited to enter a “Wild Card” (What Is a Wildcard?) submission that is not based on a winning pitch from the previous phase. The Judges will score all Wild Card Videos and the highest scoring Wild Card Video and the Seven (7) winning Videos submitted by Pitch winners will be scored to determine the standings for the Video Phase. Remember, the Seven Pitch winners, along with one non-Pitch Video creator, will receive prizes.

-- Video Phase Payout: Winners of the Video Phase will earn the following prizes: 1st place $12,000, 2nd place $5,000, 3rd place $2,250, and 4th through 10th place $2,000 (less any 5% one-time residual payments paid to Idea winners, as applicable).

-- Music: Tongal has partnered with Audiosocket, a boutique music licensing and technology company representing more than 2,400 emerging bands, composers and record labels. This is not "stock" music. It is an inventory of more than 40,000 original, culturally relevant songs and music that have been compiled into a premium roster.  Audiosocket's music will be available to Tongal members at no charge solely for their incorporation into Tongal members' submissions to this Project.  Tongal members are encouraged to browse the Audiosocket roster, available by clicking on the "Audiosocket" button on the right hand side of this page. If you are interested in using a track from the Audiosocket roster, as described above, just add the track(s) you want to use to your cart using the "+cart" button, then click the "checkout" button.  Enter the Tongal project name and click the "purchase and download" button to acquire the track for free ($0.00). Lastly, click the "download track" button, which will initiate the music file download. You may only use THREE Audiosocket tracks maximum as part of your video submission. 

1. The Video MUST not exceed 120 seconds in length. Preferred format is HD 720p 16x9.  Acceptable file formats are .mov, .avi, .mp4, .wmv. Acceptable codecs are H.264 (MP4), MPEG-4, H.263, MPGV, WMV, DivX.

2. 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.

3. In the event you utilize any third party materials, such as music provided by a third-party music provider, you must obtain full written license and consent from the owner of such third party materials and provide such license and consent forms to Tongal.

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

5. Submissions must not portray Rit Dye in a negative way, the determination of which will solely reside with Rit Dye. 

6. Videos must be in the English language.

7. Limit 5 submission(s) per member, per phase.

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

9. Minimum 50 Pitches, or the contest may repost for fourteen (14) days at the sponsor's discretion.

10. Sponsor will be entitled to one reasonable round of revisions on the finished video without providing additional compensation. Remember it's easier to re-edit than re-shoot so try to get as much coverage as possible.

11. In addition to the standard Tongal W-9, Winner Affidavit, and IP Assignment, winning video creators MUST also provide Talent, Location, and Music Releases for all assets appearing in the video as well as the project files, editing sequence and an uncompressed quicktime .mov file in either Animation or ProRes 422 codecs at 1920x1080 to claim their prize.

12. The Pitch winners of this project will be personally and financially responsible for making travel arrangements to film the Story winner from the previous phase.

13. BY SUBMITTING A VIDEO ENTRY, YOUR SUBMISSION IMMEDIATELY BECOMES SOLELY THE PROPERTY OF TONGAL – 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 WEB SITE 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.

14. 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.