Rosies & The Red Oak Victory Revival: Multimedia Storytelling (video, photography, writing, social)
When I learned Boilermaker women were leading a restoration push on the SS Red Oak Victory, I grabbed at the chance to tell their story. I spent several days running around the massive ship with a camera and mic kit filming, taking photos, and interviewing the women and others at work – and during a media day honoring Rosie the Riveter Trust’s 25th Anniversary. The end result was a cover-story magazine article, social media content, short media clips, and a short film story.
We Want to Work: Multifaceted communication strategy
Thirty-five workers at a talc mill in Three Forks, Montana, were locked out of their jobs by a massive global company. It was David v. Goliath in a small town, and the blue collar workers would be going without income or employer health coverage.
To beat a massive multinational company in a tiny Montana town, you need to control the narrative. You need to get the town on your side, get the media on your side, pull everyone’s heartstrings, and make it clear the company is the bad guy.
I went to Montana to find the stories that would strike the right chords. I found them. With Wide Awake Films capturing the story for a video, I left with content for a website home base for a multifaceted campaign that included media relations; traditional TV, radio, print, and billboard ads, as well as digital ads (geofence and IP targeting) and social media.
Kids Need Kiwanis: Rebranding, brand messaging
Sometimes you get it right. Really right. That’s what happened when I had the courage to say “yes” to taking Kiwanis’ brand message into uncharted territory and advocate for a big change. Rather than talk about clubs, leaders and 100 years of blah, blah, blah, same old, same old, we would focus the brand directly on Kiwanis’ mission: The kids Kiwanis clubs serve. Those goofy, messy, energetic and vulnerable kids who need help in communities around the world.
And we’d finally stop taking ourselves so seriously. We’d stop being boring. We needed a message that attracted new members
We help kids, and we have fun.
(Creative elements by Borshoff)
Cambodia: Writing, photography
Over the glittering Tonle Sap River. Beyond the hustling noise, dazzle and construction rebirth of capital city Phnom Penh. Past rice fields, faded sentinel temples and the schoolyards where row after neat row of bicycles lean in anticipation of their owners. Across roadways that mesh patches of sleek highway with rut-pocked red-dirt paths.
This is the way to Cambodia’s future.
Six hours deep into the drive, Phnom Penh has disappeared into vague memory. Gritty towns give way to verdant pepper, coffee, cashew, and rubber farms. Farms fade to a dustier savannah-like scrub-and-shrub landscape, long stripped of its timber.
Let Us Never Forget: Ghostwriting, short commentary, creative writing
On September 11, 2021, I received an early afternoon call from the Boilermakers’ International President—my boss. He wanted me to write a letter recognizing the 20th anniversary of 9/11 and mentioning the Boilermakers who contributed to relief efforts. He wanted it to be poignantly appropriate to the occasion, and he wanted it to go out under his signature to the union’s full contact list, published on the website, and pushed out through social media. He wanted it ASAP.
Where others flex their muscles, I flex my tone. I dug deep and worked quickly. No time to marinate on the assignment. I thought of my own experience that awful day 20 years earlier. I thought of the Boilermaker members I’d met and their dedication to doing their best work under the worst conditions, in the toughest environments. And I knew the President’s voice and how far to push the emotion in the piece—because I pay careful attention to the spoken and written mannerisms of the leaders who trust me with their voices.
Dream. Prepare. Succeed. Creative strategy, storytelling, branding, ghostwriting, media relation
The best way to tell a nonprofit’s story is directly through the people actually impacted by the nonprofit. After I reworked Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership’s (INHP) visual brand identity, I needed to find a way to connect INHP to two different audiences—clients and donors—who have two different calls to action under that single unified brand.
When I met INHP client Brittany, I knew her story would resonate with both audiences. She was an open book, unafraid to share what she and her husband didn’t know, and she was honest about the experience she’d had—including missteps and setbacks along the way. Her story threaded through donor communications and events, client communications, media relations and promotional events illustrating an INHP’s journey to dream of homeownership, prepare for homeownership through INHP programs, and succeed as a long-term successful homeowner.
The Formula: Branding, creative strategy, video production
When I returned to Kiwanis International in 2013 as Chief Comms Officer, a small volunteer committee was working with the Membership Department on a new member drive/club building initiative. Right out the shoot, I was told there was a problem: The committee wasn’t happy with the creative direction of the initiative’s look/feel and the sub-brand behind it. It wasn’t for lack of an wonderfully talented comms team and great work. Things just weren’t jiving between what the committee wanted to see and the creative drafts they were getting. And, like far too many initiatives where well-meaning folks dream up taglines and a campaign name ahead of strategy (I don’t blame them, that’s the fun part) the initiative had come to the team already named and with only a vague idea of what that name actually meant or what initiative itself was all about.
My job was to “fix it.”
Read my personal blog, Wanderlust: WanderfulThoughts.com
