(Spoiler alert: this is not about baseball)

Yes, it’s one of those lovely spring days here in NYC, where the weather is just teetering on the edge of sublime and we could almost forget to even concentrate on work…except for that great, big RFP that is sitting there starring at you from your screen with a fast approaching deadline.  The kind where, as the hours go by, you might think you are audibly hearing a clock ticking….and it just keeps getting louder.

Do not get me wrong, I love RFP’s (requests for proposals for those not in the “know” of these sorts of things).  Actually, this entire story might be hard to understand for those who might be reading this and are not one of my creative, fearless, wonderful, inspiring friends in the advertising and marketing industry.  So, if you want to just stop reading this now; totally understand.

That being said, answering an RFP is often hard, as we have to gather a lot of information, figure out the best way to present whatever it is we are asked to present and of course, make sure it looks creatively dazzling.  At the same time, we have lots of other things that need to get done during the course of the day.  That coupled with the fact that we all think we are just so overwhelmingly, head-spinningly busy that we often start to mentally pant at the thought of getting something like this accomplished within the mandated deadline, which of course, we deem impossible to meet before we even get started.

So, why do I love RFP’s?  Are you kidding me?!  This is what we LIVE for!  Not only is it the recognition that there is someone out there who has sought you out and is interested in what you have to offer, which is always a good, if not a great feeling, but more so, it’s the potential.  Its hope. Delivered via email, filled with expectations and bound by timing.  It’s having the opportunity to solve a puzzle, to find a needle in a haystack and create some persuasive magic.

But that’s not all.  No, no.  The part of it that I truly relish in is that somewhere is the throes of answering an RFP, my professional archives are brought back to life.  At some point in the process, I step through the looking glass.  So many experiences, memories and ideas come flooding to my mind, and from that so many new ideas form.  At the same time, this metamorphosis is not just happening to me, but to the whole team.  Suddenly we are alive with creativity, united in our mission.  The exercise alone of being forced to create an on-demand solution and really come up with something innovative and captivating is absolutely exhilarating!

It’s these times and the memories that are created in them, that I look back to and viscerally grab out of my archives.  If they were human, I would give them a big hug, then look them in the eye with a tremendous smile and say, “It is so good to see you again!”

So, yes…I am in the middle of RFP madness and I am inspired.  Our team is literally down to the wire and running at fever pitch.

Game on!