Hey Team,

I’ve been doing a lot of interviews about this contest over the last few days and one of the questions that continues to come up is, “What made you think this was a good idea?” (Make sure you read that question with honest curiosity and not with blatant shock at my audacity/stupidity. Please…)

I’ve worked as “a creative” long enough to know that the time honored, “Where do ideas come from?” question never has an easy answer. Ever. All you can do is throw out a quipy (we’re just going to pretend that’s a word for the moment) sound bite and hope that’s enough for whoever to move on to the next question. Usually you end up telling a tiny piece of the truth. The largest piece of the whole pie will satisfy most…but I always feel like I’m letting people down if I don’t share fully.

Obviously I took a lot of cues from last year’s onslaught of employment contests, but that’s just an easy hook to hang ideas on. People get it if you tell them you’re just flipping those contests on their head, but it doesn’t explain where the idea comes from or why.

(I’m realizing this is a very big story. So for today…here’s one more tiny piece.) I was standing in the shower last night going over the day’s interviews (Because, honestly, who doesn’t think better in the shower?!) when my thoughts slid to a special little lady’s upcoming birthday. Which in turn led to the “we’ve come so far” thoughts. Which then morphed into thoughts of how we got started. And although that’s an even more convoluted story with even more pieces of truth, the fact remains, it all started with a contest…an application really.

Going away to college can be a lonely affair and that first spring in the dorms is pretty hard to take as you’re watching couples wander through the quad all day while you can’t even get up the guts to find a way to get the girls you do like to notice you. My solution? The Girlfriend Application.

Printed out, hung on my dorm room door and emailed to a small group of ladies, this was my first official lesson that the only sure fire way to get people to pay attention is to break their expectations. When people know things are supposed to happen one way…that’s when it’s practically your duty to do a 180. (And if you can entertain along the way, even better.)

Bottom line: I can’t call the experience anything other than an overwhelming success. Fast-forward ten years, and I’m standing in the shower looking forward to celebrating my favorite “applicant’s” birthday.

I’ll see if I can get @katymoe to scan and post the application tonight (Yep, it’s still around after almost a decade.), the only question I remember off hand is:

Sex (circle one):    F

So, what makes me think GEitW will work? This isn’t how things are supposed to happen.

I’m done.

Brett.