Marketing in a time of COVID
Right now, it’s not about selling or buying, it’s about talking with friends. It’s about coming together over Zoom to do choreography based on a poem.
It’s about recording a video of yourself painting a watercolor in response to someone else’s work.
It’s about having your mom read one of your poems over video to friends and family.
At least that’s what Justin Scribner did in his sneak peek launch party, The Showing.
Justin had been writing his book for years. Everyone knew he was involved in the arts, but not many knew he had been privately writing a book.
This was Justin’s time to introduce himself as a writer…
As Merle Dandridge read a poem, boats scooted across the water behind her. Justin’s friends watched and waved their hands in joy and grief.
Adam Falkner read a piece in response to Justin’s story “Lingering,” called “Connor, Everywhere But” from his collection The Willies.
Connor in the search bar.
Connor on G-Chat, invisible.
Connor in poems that have nothing to do with Connor.
“Seeing an idea take form in a new way is really thrilling…”
The sound of a train passed when “Released” was read by filmmaker Samantha Soule.
A video appeared showing a woman closing her eyes in the entryway of a building, her feet in a river getting tapped with rain.
“Being a free man suddenly makes you feel heavy…”
Justin’s words came through the screen while we saw blurry trees, graffiti, a bike, the sun glistening on water, a woman in blue with a lunch bag walking over train tracks.
A song called “you are a guitar” was written in Exquisite Corpse style, with ideas digitally passed among friends. “I want my love to pour all around you baby…patiently, I learned your key… and maybe I can be part of your symphony” two friends sang under tiny fairy lights.
It’s not just Justin’s work. This showing held the world in every grain of sand.
“This would never have happened without COVID,” Justin said, and, in my own little way, I’m glad to see one good thing come from a time when so many people feel quite dark.
Justin Scribner’s Sneak Peek Zoom Party was hosted by Garen Scribner and managed by Sarah Harris, with Justin’s mother Diane Scribner Clevenger as a special reader.
The Showing was written and directed by Justin Scribner, hosted by Garen Scribner, edited by Sarah Harris and features five of Justin’s works from his new collection “every grain of sand”:
“the age of the river” — read by Gracy Obuchowicz, watercolor by Lindsey Heddleston Smith
“as the end approached” — read by Michael Arden, choreographed and performed by Christopher Grant and Lauren Yalango-Grant
“Lingering” — written by Justin Scribner, read by Merle Dandridge
“Connor Everywhere But” — written and performed by Adam Falkner
“Released” — directed and read by Samantha Soule, performed by Kim Stauffer
“you are a guitar” — song written by Crystal Monee Hall, Marcus Paul James, and Ben Diskant, performed by Crystal Monee Hall, Marcus Paul James, and Van Hughes, haiku read by Maia Nkenge-Wilson
