At Leap Tie, when we leave the office on a Friday, we are still open for business online. It seems that it’s often on a weekend that a high-profile celebrity passes away. We monitor news for events 24/7. You may not realize it, but we even monitor news feeds in your town so that if there is a need to add your voice to a conversation or event, we can help you do so quickly. What we have learned is that the fastest response may not always be the best. Giving the story enough time to settle down into hard facts, takes time.
Recognizing Kobe Bryant’s tragic death is something almost everyone is doing. What can we do as a profession to be prepared for the next few days? This is going to be a very high-profile funeral.
This will be different than the funerals of Muhammed Ali, Aretha Franklin or President Bush. They were all ill, and more planning time went into their events. An even bigger difference is that Kobe’s death affects young generations. There is a huge opportunity to show and share what children need to know and understand about loss and grief. For many young people this will be their first experience with grief and loss. Many of them have never experienced the loss of a close loved one and the loss of an inspirational role model can be devastating.
An unimaginable, “invisible” feat is occurring right now in order to make a huge service take place and come off perfectly. In addition to the usual processions, flowers, and arrangements, celebrities are changing schedules and writing eulogies, media networks are doing logistics, and underneath all of that, a family is grieving.
This is an opportunity for us in the profession to add a valuable narrative to an event just about everyone is going to be looking at over the next couple of weeks. We’re working with our clients to position them to be proactive and a voice to educate people about what they will need in the days ahead to begin healing.
What are you doing or saying to your community during this time?
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