Becoming BOSS: Bosses for Boss, the Origins Story

Originally published on LinkedIn

Six months into my tenure at RIVA we won our rocket ship contract, a 10-year $2B IDIQ at USPTO with only five awardees. Three smalls, two larges. As certified 8(a) SDB rapidly coming up on the small business cliff, USPTO BOSS is literally rocket fuel to propel us not only off the cliff but straight into the F&O market in a big way. 

Amazing, but also internal yikes for my small but mighty MarCom team.

 We need to market the heck out of this thing and make sure everyone at PTO knows RIVA. While we’ve been on the ground at PTO for a decade, BOSS brings about a whole new scope of exciting opportunities and we have A LOT of work to do.

…and then BOSS got protested and protested some more….

Hurry up, stop. Wait. GO. Never mind, Okay, for real…maybe. IT’S HAPPENING. Wait again. Okay GO. (In case you’ve ever wondered what it feels like to be a marketer when big wins are under protest and you’re trying to pin it down for resources and campaign calendars.) 

While protest in theory bought my team time to think up a brilliant marketing strategy, to be honest we’re a lean team and well, the 1000 other asks and projects took precedent. So, a year later I’m sitting in my home office writing the marketing section of the PTO account plan, anticipating a BOSS green light any day, completing my 20th read of the tech volume, knee deep in every strategic plan PTO or Commerce has ever published, creeping on our competitors and the latest in DevSecOps trends and I’ve got…ding ding…nothing.

At this point my dog Zooey wakes up and insists a walk which I am very happy to oblige. Anything to get away from the pile of notes and random stickies thrown across the wall.

The Importance of Creative Free Space

All creatives will tell you the best ideas come to you in the stupidest places. I’ve literally dreamt up concepts and woken up with ideas. Something great will hit me at the gym in the middle of a set or sitting in endless 66 traffic. Creativity needs free, blank space, which is sometimes impossible to find in a plugged in, zoomed-out world. 

On my walk with Zo, I realized I didn’t need to go far to come up with something good for BOSS–it was sitting right there in the name. Bosses for BOSS.

The Original Bosses for Boss Concept

Wouldn’t it be hilarious if we had a little fun with the campaign and instead of moping around waiting for BOSS to come out of protest before moving, we proactively spent our time recruiting bosses and ramping up the team, so we were READY day one. What if Michael Scott and Leslie Knope joined Team RIVA? As a new Jersey native, the only true Boss in my mind is Bruce Springsteen, obviously, he’s coming onboard, too.

Everyone relates with pop culture bosses; their strengths and quirkiness are reflective of how we behave or maybe how we’d like to behave if there were no restrictions, and it was socially acceptable. If I were a boss, I’d be Leela from Futurma. A no-nonsense captain of the ship with an appreciation for combat boots, hard on the outside but maybe (just maybe) a little bit of a softie for those around her. 

Wheels started turning and by the end of our walk I had convinced myself this was either a great idea or a terrible one. There is rarely an in-between for creative campaigns, which is why it’s so important to vet and brainstorm ideas with others. Over the next few weeks, I soft pitched this concept to several internal folks and at the big reveal during account plan presentations, received the final nod of approval. Bosses for BOSS was a go. 

At RIVA, we pride ourselves on being a different type of government contractor. I spend most of my day working alpacas (our mascot) into marketing materials, so anything we do always has a bit of an edge, and it has memorable, we’re not your typical ‘blue’ GovCon marketers. Blue in our industry is the equivalent of vanilla, it's fine, its good, but it’s safe and it’s a little boring. Not on my team and not at RIVA.

Today we’re officially launching #Bosses4Boss at our Partner Kick-Off Meeting and I’m so excited to share what we’ve been up to all these months. While the original concept has evolved from Bruce Springsteen, I personally think it’s cool to know the origin of creative campaigns and watch them evolve into (hopefully) something great. Over the next six months we’ll be releasing new content and pulling the thread on why team RIVA is the BOSS for BOSS. Follow along for my behind-the-scenes marketing journey as we peel back the layers and show you what makes RIVA MarCom tick.

Until then, if no one told you today – you’re a boss.