Launching in the aftermath of Sandy

I started creating this new website as the destruction to the densely populated New York/New Jersey area from Hurricane Sandy unfolded. I was thinking of the stories I want to tell, which are for brands, and the stories that really make a massive difference in peoples' lives.

I made a note of how Mayor Bloomberg said that the New York Marathon should go on to get the city back to normal. But then he heard the outrage survivors felt and cancel the marathon. That he listened, I thought was heartening. I read the next day about people who'd gone to New York to run in the marathon (really?) with selfish angry quotes about it being cancelled. I'm sure the runners see it differently than how that all looked from the outside.

I noted too, the ex-FIMA guy who lost his job after their #EpicFail of Katrina, who now famously said that people need to just chill and hearing that, well, just made you wonder. Then there are were warm stories of people with power and water opening up their homes to strangers, going out in the streets to find people who need help. So many stories of hope, anger, endurance, sadness, strength and loss.

NYC.org's great website with up-to-date, well-organized, detailed resources for people who need help and people who want to help. I couldn't help feeling that in any large city in Canada it would somehow be impossible to organize that kind of bureaucratic support in a disaster situation and local news organizations with online presence would take the place of official, useful information and resources. Seeing the Occupy Movement come together with the most on-the-ground support is a light at the end of the tunnel.

What does this all have to do with narrative and the strategies behind storytelling? Everything and nothing. Mayor Bloomberg looked strong, not weak, by allowing that his first take on the Marathon was wrong. The response of the people of Occupy Sandy showed how some of the cracks in the system can be patched quickly to adapt to the needs of the moment. Each story of success had a strategy behind it that made it succeed. I'm a little troubled about the connection because I don't want to trivialize the tragedy. 

I'm drawn to news and journalism for its stories about the things that matter and affect our lives everywhere. Somehow it all intersects with how I look at marketing and brand strategy. I'm always looking for what's true, what's interesting, what matters.

Thank you for visiting. This site will be changing and evo

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