For Zappos, I wanted to make sure our personality came across in the RFP response.
From Vegas to Kansas City, I started to doodle some thoughts on the plane. Those doodles became the cornerstone for the proposal.
What if we wrote the entire piece by hand? What if we did rough sketches that let Zappos in on what we were thinking AS we were thinking it?
This was an ambitious approach because we had a lot of content to cover and of course, we didn’t want to come across as flippant. But the “doodle approach” seemed to work well because it forced us to distill our thinking.
Many Barkley partners contributed to this labor of love. For example, partners did a self-portrait and wrote their own bios. The personality of our partners shone through like never before.
The final result is a proposal that really reflects who we are. It was a lot of work, but all I remember is how much fun it was to put it together.
Glen and I want to say thanks for hanging out yesterday, it was super cool to meet everyone and we’re glad you enjoyed the pizza. I know our pizza box designers will be stoked to hear that you’re keeping them, and even having some of them framed.
Oh, and Roz, thanks for all your help coordinating with us. We couldn’t have done it without you!
Enjoy those boxes, and don’t be strangers!
Cheers,
Josh (@joshokun) and Glen (@the_glendon – yes, he really is THE glendon )
We’re Glen and Josh, and we helped bring a little pizza by today. While we were working on the RFP, it seemed like Zappos.com and Barkley had a lot in common. And what better way to get to know each other than a good ol’ fashioned pizza party?
You guys seem to have a cool vibe going on over there, and we think our culture is pretty special too. And since we couldn’t invite you all over for some BBQ, we figured we’d send some pizza your way. A gift from our employees to yours.
We quickly decided against making the pizza (lucky for you), but we thought we’d at least put our stamp on the boxes. So we grabbed some designers, gave them a blank pizza box and let them get after it. The only rule was to include the Barkley rocket (which is pretty cool anyway).