For around 13 million Americans, going to the bathroom – or rather not going to the bathroom – is all they can think about. Constipation, abdominal pain, and bloating make life a constant battle for control of their own bodies. If these symptoms persist at least once a week for more than three months, sufferers may have Irritable Bowel Syndrome with Constipation (IBS-C) and may require prescription treatment. 

IBS-C and CIC (Chronic Idiopathic Constipation) have hallmark physical and psychological symptoms that can take a heavy toll on sufferers’ daily lives:

• Physical symptoms, which occur at least once a week for more than three months:
  • Constipation
  • Bloating
  • Abdominal pain  
• Psychological: 
  • Lack of control over their own body and shame stemming from it
  • Stigma around pooping, especially for women 
  • Impaired confidence, productivity, and libido
  • Lack of validity of condition (“it’s not diabetes or cancer”)
  • Stress, anxiety, distraction, lack of confidence
  • Not taken seriously: poop is either a taboo or a punchline

Enduring these symptoms can drive sufferers to seek their own homeopathic remedies like prunes and fiber supplements, or OTC remedies like laxatives and enemas. These methods may provide short-term relief, but are often ineffective in the long-term and may cause even more problems with time. 

In addition, it’s difficult for sufferers to feel comfortable discussing their symptoms with others, including healthcare professionals. Instead, many people just assume there’s something “wrong” with them rather than seek professional treatment. 

This creates a trust challenge for sufferers, especially when it comes to seeking out a possible prescription; therefore, it’s important to message that a prescription can be the missing piece to their IBS-C treatment that actively helps them take back control (vs. a reactive short-term solution like OTC remedies).

But before the prescription conversation can start, these sufferers need to feel supported and ready, and that means educating them about IBS-C and validating their suffering as a legitimate medical condition that may require prescription treatment. And that's where the Tongal community comes in.

The goal of this project is to create an empathetic and empowering 30-second animated TVC for US audiences that encourages audiences to identify with the symptoms of IBS0-C and drives them to the Oh My Gut! website where they can learn more about their symptoms and are encouraged to speak to their doctor about prescription treatments.

In a previous project we sourced concepts to inform your pitch and the eventual TVC. Those are shared below with the brand team’s notes.

Two filmmakers will create animatics with full pre-production based on their pitches; one of those filmmakers will then go on to create the full animated TVC.

DELIVERABLES: 

• One 30-second animated TVC

TIMELINE:  

For the full project timeline please see the Assets tab.

EXPOSURE: U.S. Broadcast

TARGET AUDIENCE: 

• Primary:
  • Individuals who experience the symptoms of IBS-C but have not yet received a diagnosis, or who may not even realize they have a diagnosable medical condition
  • Individuals proactively seeking relief from constipation with abdominal symptoms
• Secondary:
  • Sufferers who have seen their healthcare professional and have been advised to treat their condition with OTCs and lifestyle modifications and are not satisfied with results
  • Suffers who have normalized their symptoms and don’t see their condition as chronic or serious enough to visit their healthcare professional to discuss further
• Tertiary:
  • The silent sufferers, individuals who are too embarrassed to seek help for fear of judgment from others, including their healthcare professional; they are self-managing with OTC products and are simply not getting the relief they deserve

TONE: Supportive, empathetic, validating, optimistic, and forward-looking. NOT humorous.

EXECUTIONAL MANDATORIES:

Each Pitch must outline how the proposed video will help sufferers in three key ways: 

1. Validate their suffering and normalize their symptoms
2. Understand more about their medical condition and validate their “Rx-worthiness”
3. Encourage them to potentially find control and relief with a prescription treatment

At the same time, your Pitches need to include the ABCS of IBS-C to highlight the symptoms with this mnemonic device:

• Abdominal pain
• Bloating
• Constipation

Your Pitches must be based off of one of the concepts below and must take the brand team’s notes into account. You have the option to combine two or more concepts in your Pitch should you choose.

• Insider Know-How: An animated diagram of our internal body acknowledges the suffering of IBS-C and uses its own workings to point out the ABCs of the symptoms. The diagram then urges sufferers to seek help so they can control their inner workings and enjoy life more. 
  
  Brand Team Note: Do not depict a distended or visibly larger stomach to demonstrate bloating; the internal organs can appear bloated to convey the feeling of discomfort, but the stomach should not expand or look larger as a result.
  
  
• You Know That Feeling: A man gets ready for a big presentation & stops dead in his tracks. Zoom into his stomach. A world of little creatures is beating on the insides of his stomach and causing the ABC symptoms all IBS-C sufferers can relate to.
  
  Brand Team Note: Clearly defining and highlighting the symptoms and making them identifiable will be key here, as will connecting the Oh My Gut! site as the next step for viewers. Consider combining this concept with Insider Know-How.
  
  
• Search It: Show a series of internet searches for the symptoms of IBS-C and how common they are. Due to the stigma surrounding the condition, people are suffering in silence and searching for answers on their own. But there is a solution. Another web search leads the viewer to the Oh My Gut! website where they can learn more about their symptoms and seek treatment.
  
  Brand Team Note: This concept provides an opportunity to incorporate the Oh My Gut! website and the resources shared there and ‘demo’ the site for viewers.
  
  
• The ABCs of IBS-C: A teacher reviews the ABCs of IBS-C in front of her class. At the end of the lesson, the camera reveals that the class contains adults from all sectors of society. Please note: Before the reveal, the teacher shouldn’t come across like she’s talking to young children, since Oh My Gut! is targeted to adults.
  
  Brand Team Note: Do not “dumb down” the information or the teacher’s demeanor to make the viewer think the teacher is talking to children; Oh My Gut! is targeted to adults and we do not want to imply that it is for children or that sufferers are at a juvenile learning level.
  
  
• Listen to Your Body: A montage of short clips of the ABC symptoms. Don’t ignore your body. Don’t suffer in silence. Don’t be embarrassed. When your body talks, listen to it! A series of statistics highlight prevalence of IBS-C and drive the viewer to visit the Oh My Gut! website.
  
  Brand team Note: Lean into the frank and positive tone and framing around reclaiming your health and validating your discomfort as a diagnosable medical condition.

It’s important to make sure the target audience feels empowered and understands that their symptoms could be part of a diagnosable medical condition, and that control of their condition is possible. They need to believe that they deserve relief and take the opportunity to seek proper treatment, starting with the right conversation with their healthcare professional.

As you have probably gathered, these are not conditions to be taken lightly, and we are NOT looking for humorous takes on the subject. Any Pitches that rely solely on humor will be disqualified. 

NOTE:  Symptoms must always include constipation and abdominal symptoms that are chronic (returning again and again). Bloating and abdominal pain cannot stand alone in order to specifically communicate with IBS-C sufferers, and this isn’t aimed at patients with occasional constipation. Also, the medical definition of bloating does not include abdominal distention - it is limited to a feeling or sensation of fullness. We cannot claim to decrease the measurable size of a patient’s abdomen. 

• Must be empathetic, validating, and de-stigmatize the symptoms of IBS-C
• Must encourage individuals suffering from the symptoms of IBS-C to self-identify with the symptoms listed and seek out more information
• Final messaging must drive visits to an unbranded web site where viewers can learn more
• Must clearly and authentically convey that the symptoms of IBS-C are legitimate and make sufferers believe that they are worthy of an Rx
• Encourage sufferers to speak to their healthcare professional and seek proactive treatment
• Must NOT poke fun at the symptoms or sufferers, rely on “poop jokes,” or otherwise add to the stigma and lack of seriousness about these conditions

In order to be considered for this project you, must include the below materials in your Pitch submission. For examples of effective Pitches, check out this gallery. 

• TEXT (REQUIRED): 500 characters or less synopsizing how you plan to approach and execute this Video.

• LINKS (REQUIRED): To your previous video work. Please specify your role (producer, director, cinematography, etc.) and DO NOT INCLUDE LINKS TO YOUR SHOWREEL. Please link to individual videos.

• TREATMENT (REQUIRED): A detailed narrative description of what's going to happen in the video. If it's helpful to you, we've provided a Treatment template, which you can find here.

• SCRIPT (OPTIONAL): This should include dialogue from the video you intend to create. 

• STORYBOARDS (OPTIONAL): Additional concept art, storyboards, shot list, anything that helps get your point across. You can download the Tongal storyboard template here.

• VO CASTING (OPTIONAL): Casting notes or concepts, VO samples from actors, etc. 

• PITCH VIDEO (OPTIONAL): This is your opportunity to be face-to-face with the Sponsor and show them what you're capable of. Consider submitting a Pitch video in which you tell the Sponsor what they can expect should they choose your Pitch. Also, test videos, animatics, etc. are welcome. For some examples of effective Pitch videos, check out this gallery. All Pitches will remain private until after the Sponsor gives a creator(s) the green light to move forward.

1. 1. The Video MUST not exceed :30 seconds in length. Preferred format for upload to the Tongal website 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. Should your submission be greenlit, you will also be required to provide a 1080p .mov master file, using a ProRes, Animation, or Uncompressed Codec.

   
   

   2. Confidentiality: Specifications, data, documentation, or other technical or business information (“Information”) furnished or disclosed to you shall be deemed the property of Allergan (“Company”). You shall keep all non-public information contained in this RFP in confidence and will not, without Company’s prior written consent, disclose said information to any person or entity, except your officers, employees, agents and representatives who directly require said information for purposes of submitting the Proposal.  

       

   3. Publicity: No references to Allergan, any party affiliated with Allergan, or their code names, drawings, specifications or the subject of this proposal shall be used in any of your advertising, promotional efforts or any publicity of any kind without the prior written permission of the Allergan Contact.

   
   

   4. Non-Competition. You acknowledge that you, and your personnel, will have access to highly confidential, proprietary, and sensitive information of Allergan (which may include information regarding Allergan’s business plans and strategies, intellectual property, products, research and development activities, services and technology) related to products, drugs, and/or medical devices developed, manufactured, marketed, sold, licensed, distributed or provided by Allergan (“Allergan Products”), and that use of such information would inadvertently or inevitably occur if you performed services for a competitor of Allergan. Accordingly, you agree that during the term of project, and for a period of twelve (12) months thereafter, you and your personnel shall not, without first obtaining the written consent of Allergan, actively solicit or perform any services that are similar to the Services under such project for any third party that develops, manufactures, markets, sells, licenses, distributes or provides products that are similar to any Allergan Product or that otherwise directly or indirectly competes with any Allergan Product. You further acknowledges that any violation of this Section would cause irreparable injury to Allergan and that such injury may not be adequately compensated by damages, and that, accordingly, Allergan shall be entitled, in addition to any other right or remedy it may have at law or equity, to seek and obtain injunctive relief against you enjoining or restraining any violation or threatened violation of this Section, without the posting of any bond or other security. Further, you acknowledge that the compensation paid to you hereunder includes consideration for the restrictions set forth in this Section.

   
   

   5. 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.

   
   

   6. In the event you utilize any third-party materials, such as music provided by a third-party music provider not provided by Tongal, 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.

   
   

   7. BY SUBMITTING A VIDEO 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.

   
   

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

   
   

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

   
   

   10. 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.

   
   

   11. Videos must be in the English language or subtitled.

   
   

   12. Limit 5 submissions per member, per Phase.

   
   

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

   
   14. The Sponsor reserves the right to repost the project.

   
   15. In addition to the judging criteria stated in the OFFICIAL RULES, Pitches will also be evaluated on that member's ability to execute the final Video based on their prior work and experience as a filmmaker.

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

   
   17. In addition to the standard Tongal W-9, Winner Affidavit, and IP Assignment, greenlit Video creators MUST also provide Talent, Location, Music (or other) Releases for all assets appearing in their Videos, as well as a photograph/headshot OR copy of a photo ID for all On-camera Talent releases. You must also provide all project files, editing sequences and a 1080p .mov master file, using a ProRes, Animation, or Uncompressed Codec to claim your earnings.

   
   18. 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.