Tongal Sweetens ‘MacGruber’ Buzz Bus, Cash for Videos

Tongal jumped on board the MacGruber buzz bus this week at SXSW, launching a video contest for user-generated videos linked to the ROGUE Pictures film based on the popular SNL character “MacGruber.”

A panel of judges will then select five winning pitches that will be announced on tongal.com/macgruber on March 30 to move on to the next phase, which asks participants get to film and submit a 90-second video segment based on the top pitches. There is additional chance for prizes for watching and predicting the five winning video submissions. The grand prize for the top video is a ‘Hometown Screening’ of MacGruber as well as the five winning videos receiving cash prizes.

“We had been talking with Randall (Cox, EVP International Business and Corporate Development of Relativity Media) for a while about how to use Tongal as a social media platform to compliment Rogue releases,” said James DeJulio, co-founder and president of Tongal. “Especially if the campaign would result in user generated content. MacGruber was a perfect fit because of the overall level of awareness and enthusiasm for the character.”

The contest itself has numerous involvement opportunities for participation and eventual rewards. Phase one of the campaign asks participants to pitch a new MacGruber

scene using one line of dialogue from the movie (from a list provided) in 250 text characters or less.

Just for fun, here is my entry:

(In slow motion): MacGruber removes his soiled shirt. His biceps are amazing. The Commander mouths, “wow”. MacGruber responds: “Every day is a workout when you have to carry around a 20 pound python in your jeans.”

(Note: I’m not actually entering the contest…it just seemed like a darn lot of fun and I couldn’t resist)

Tongal has more campaigns in the works. “We’re really excited that we’re launching a campaign with a prominent NBA franchise this week to create fan video mashups,” DeJulio revealed. “The winners, in addition to cash get two luxury suite tickets and their video played on the Jumbotron (at the famous arena this team calls home).”

Our platform and approach is really taking off,” he concluded. “We just launched out of beta at SXSW this week and had an incredible response. By breaking down the creation of this type of content into different stages, we’re allowing people of all skill sets a chance to participate, earn money, and ultimately it’s creating higher quality output. If you’re good at ideas, or if you’re good at video production, or even if you’re good at watching videos, you can use Tongal to make money and have fun.”