Monday, June 2, 2008
APMP Proposal Cartoon Caption Contest
Wow – we had a wonderful response at last week’s APMP Conference to our Proposal Cartoon Caption contest. Nearly 200 entries came in, offering their captions to the following:
BJ and I battled valiantly to align our senses of humour and agree a shortlist of ten – here goes, in no particular order:
1. “How did we win that? We no-bid it!” – Romie Shield, OSIsoft
2. “The dog just ate our proposal!” – Ruth Turman, Blue Cross Blue Shield of SC
3. “So, who knows Urdu?” – Pat Thomas, Logica
4. “New hairdresser in town?” – Chris Rademeyer, Deloitte
5. “It was ‘Eastern’ time” – Diane Keane, L-3 Communications
6. “I stapled my hands together” – Tony Milani, Experian
7. “Oh no… they gave us an extension” – Paul Fleischman, Sybase
8. “The UPS proposal was shipped FedEx” – Esteban, Motorola
9. “Terrible news… we won!” – Ron Nagel
10. “There’s been a small change…” – Pamela Goodman, Ropes & Gray LLP
We’d love your comments as to which you think was the best, so that we can choose an overall winner.
(Huge thanks to our good friend Mike Parkinson of the 24 Hour Company, author of the wonderful book Billion Dollar Graphics, for drawing the cartoon for us!)
“The UPS proposal was shipped FedEx” – Esteban, Motorola
This one made me laugh out loud!!!
I agree, the UPS proposal being shipped FedEx is the winner in my book! : )
A very, very tough call. Each one is highly amusing.
I will have to go for “There’s been a small change…”
p.s. Great cartoon Mike.
Great suggestions. From bitter experience I think I’d have to go for “There’s been a small change…” It’s always a big change and it always messes up the content development process and the proposal plan!
Think I’d jump on the UPS bandwagon… it’s always the ‘little things’ that are overlooked…
UPS hands down!
UPS has my vote.
By the way - I sent this out to all of our Proposal Analysts and I got a message back, “Funny thing … I speak Urdu.” So, at least we’re covered in that eventuality.
Great cartoon!
Too funny! I would say that the prop professionals have such amazing gift for wiriting comedy but I suspect they were only sharing personal experiences. ;) (Joking of course—kinda’.) Fantastic idea Jon and BJ!
Hey, I submitted the qoute, “There’s been a small change.” I even saw my card with my name and contact information posted on the cork board at the conference. How is someone else getting credit for my qoute? :-( Perhaps, we said the exact same thing? Either way brilliant minds do think a like, so my vote is for that one.
I have to vote for — “The UPS Proposal was shipped FEDEX!”
There seems to be a clear front-runner emerging!
Nanette: I’m guessing that this was a case of ‘brilliant minds’, as you say! (I know there were quite a few very similar, if not quite identical, entries along these lines).
I have to go with UPS -
My vote goes to “UPS!” Ironically, once had a proposal sent via FedEx destined for Chicago that, instead, spent several days in Pittsburgh - grounded as a result of a blizzard. So I just have to ask Estoban: Was the DR version of the UPS proposal (sent by FedEx) sent via USPS?
I vote for “There’s been a small change…” hits the nail right on the head!!!!
“There’s been a small change . . .” Those words haunt me!!
“There’s been a small change…” is definitely the funniest!
The competition’s heating up here! I think I personally lean towards the Urdu comment, or the ultra-surreal hand-stapling reply!
“There’s been a small change…” I laughed out loud at this one. It so accurately describes the corporate world and I would guess that most people have had to deal with this scenario at some time or another!
I LOVE “There’s been a small change…” How accurate is the reaction to that comment.
My vote goes for “There’s been a small change.” Who can’t relate?
My vote goes to “There’s been a small change.. “
Small Change - hands down! Definition = burn the midnight oils; start from scratch again.
Tough decision! I’m torn between:
“Terrible news….we won!”,
“I stapled my hands together”,
and “There’s been a small change…”
This was a lot of fun — you should do it again next year. And…what’s the prize for the winner?
Hard to choose when you’ve lived them all. Except, “I’ve stapled my hands together” TOO FUNNY…gotta go with that one.
The UPS proposal sent via Fedex actually happened at my former company, prior to my tenure.
One can never be too careful with the details.