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.
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
Pinterest
Matt Damon uses potty humor to push movement
There is nothing funny about 780 million people without clean drinking water. Or 2.5 billion people that lack access to a toilet or proper sanitation. So it may surprise you that Academy Award winner Matt Damon has taken a decidedly humorous approach to solving the problem. He announced that he will not go to the bathroom until the world water crisis is solved. Here's his faux news conference that launched his Strike With Me campaign. Damon's potty campaign is for his 20-year-old charity Water.org that helps bring ...
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 ...
Facebook memes and their message to brand storytellers
Seven years ago, I committed myself to understanding story structure and how we can use storytelling to nudge the world in any direction we choose. I've studied what Hollywood knows about creating epics, muscled through the premiere screenwriting workshop in LA, researched scores of books on why our minds are suckers for story, and we've practiced storytelling at our agency. Now I'm in the throes of writing a book on what I've learned: how brands, nonprofits, internal communications departments, sustainability professionals ...
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 ...
“Miraculous and horrifying” – The largest glacier calving ever caught on film
This glacier has retreated 9 miles in the past 10 years, more than it had retreated in the previous 100 years. Watch as a section larger than the tip of Manhattan calves into the ocean. What do you think? Is global warming a natural event, a natural event exacerbated by mankind, or completely manmade? The footage is epic, and the score is pretty amazing, too. It's nominated for an Academy Award for "Best Original Song."