How to use brand journalism to engage your community

In 1992, Karen and Morrill Worcester, owners of Worcester Wreath Company of Harrington, Maine, turned a surplus of holiday season wreaths into a national movement honoring our military heroes.

They started by making arrangements to place the wreaths at Arlington National Cemetery, in a section that had been receiving few visitors. Today their organization, Wreaths Across America, lays millions of wreaths in thousands of locations across America, remembering and honoring those who gave their lives for our country and teaching the value of freedom to future generations.

As chief content officer for PenFed Credit Union, I documented the organization’s annual weeklong pilgrimage from Maine to Arlington this past December. Along the way, we stopped at schools, monuments and veterans’ homes—and when we arrived in Virginia, PenFed employees and our community were waiting to join us to lay wreaths in Arlington National Cemetery.

This incredible opportunity combined PenFed’s core values with Wreaths Across America’s mission, producing an authentic campaign that resonated with both of our audiences.