Published: July 03, 2007 11:00 pm            

Faces of the Flood: Selling ‘sunshine’ to rebuild community pride

Latest in a series on the 1977 Johnstown Flood

As Johnstown floundered in the wake of the 1977 Flood, Denny Grenell was called to a meeting of local business leaders.

His assignment was unorthodox: Create a public-relations campaign that would boost the city’s morale, even as residents counted the dead and pushed mud from their ruined homes.

“I’m thinking of all this devastation,” Grenell recalled. “I said, ‘You want me to sell sunshine?’ ”

But the veteran ad man did just that.

Almost immediately, he came up with a phrase that soon would be plastered all over Johnstown: “We will rebuild together.”

On a leave of absence from his marketing job at Johnstown Bank & Trust Co., Grenell relentlessly promoted that motto even though he had no budget to work with.

The generosity of local media outlets provided an instant boost, as Grenell was granted free newspaper, television and radio advertisements.

“I ended up getting over a million dollars of air and print time donated,” Grenell said.

He delved into billboards, window signs and bumper stickers, too.

Grenell used any medium available to disseminate a message that, in retrospect, he believes was necessary to comfort a beleaguered population.

“ ‘Hey, we’re going to be OK,’ ” Grenell said, explaining the meaning of his slogan. “ ‘We’re going to get through this. It’s going to take time.’ ”

After having successfully staged a massive ad campaign after a disaster that crippled communications, Grenell turned his attention toward another feel-good endeavor: Street parties.

Once again, his apparent talent for procuring free goods and services came in handy as he tracked down refreshments as well as musicians willing to play pro bono.

“We started going to these different neighborhoods and rolling out kegs of beer in the middle of the street and having polka bands,” Grenell recalled.

He acknowledges a mixed atmosphere at those gatherings, with solemnity hanging heavy over any sense of celebration.

But, he said, the parties served their purpose.

“Just for those couple hours, you know, it got people’s minds off things,” Grenell said.

He estimates that his advertising effort lasted about three months. It certainly wasn’t a cure-all, and it was not responsible for any government grants or new buildings.

“Did I affect anybody who lost a loved one? Probably not,” Grenell said. “Did I affect people who lost their homes? Probably not.”

But Grenell speculates that he, in some way, contributed to the reconstruction of Johnstown.

“To this day, I’ve never known if I ever touched one person’s soul or lifted their spirits,” he said.

“I can only hope that I did.”

        

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