For 18 years, Park Howell has been the owner and chief storyteller of Park&Co, an advertising agency in Phoenix, AZ that exists to build movements that matter.
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30 years of mankind’s impact on the planet caught on tape by NASA and Google
Gary Larson, the biologist-meets-comic cartoonist who created The Far Side, caught fire with the public because of his unique juxtaposition of the universe versus our little lives. This cartoon of a smoldering fire lookout has always been one of my favorites. No words. Just visual irony. I saw a lot of these forest service towers growing up the in the Pacific Northwest. Can you imagine having the place burn down on your watch as you vigilantly survey the miles of evergreens ...
A double shot of brand storytelling at Creative Mornings in Scottsdale
I recently spoke at our local Creative Mornings, the monthly breakfast lecture series hosted in cities around the nation. The theme was "Reuse in Creativity." No, it wasn't a celebration of plagiarism. Rather, I presented a workshop on how to create more powerful stories for sustainability initiatives and green marketing, which are already replete with plagiarism (Leafs on logos, globes in hands, sprigs growing out of lumps of coal). I led with my "Got Green? and 10 Other Brand Curdling Clichés of Green ...
How a fragile velociraptor devoured the Jurassic Park myth
We judge everything in milliseconds. We can't help ourselves. And if you're responsible for telling the story about a brand, than you had better sweat the details. It is in these tiny story morsels where our customers make snap judgements about our offering, and they don't even realize they are doing it. I finally got around to reading Malcolm Gladwell's book, Blink, and from it I realized that our stories are often told in a blink of an eye: that all-important ...
What chief sustainability officers can learn from screenwriting
(The following article appeared today on the Sustainable Brands website.) If all the world’s a stage, according to Bill Shakespeare, then one needs to look no further than the c-suite for some of its highest drama. A new, fairly misunderstood protagonist has entered this mercurial world where survival typically goes to the fittest Machiavellian mind. The success of our hero, the chief sustainability officer (CSO), relies on an immense and nimble curiosity, and they must possess a cadre of skills to capture ...
Hell on wheels: How a disabled traveler turned a bad hotel experience in San Francisco into a business
Toward the end of my storytelling workshop at Seed Spot, an incubator for early stage social entrepreneurs in Phoenix, AZ, Brett Heising rolled in. Literally. Brett is confined to a wheel chair, but that appears to be about the only thing that restricts this entrepreneur. Last year, he had a problem with hotel accommodations in San Francisco. Instead of whining about it, he spotted an opportunity to help other disabled travelers, while holding hotels accountable, and pounced. He created BrettApproved.com, which vets ...