Seattle Emergency Hubs is an all-volunteer network preparing neighbors to support one another after a major disaster until outside help arrives. We are launching an ongoing series of free, practical classes offered throughout Seattle that teach people how to organize neighbors, gather and share information, match community needs with available resources, and manage local recovery efforts. In disasters all over the world, neighbors are the help until help arrives. We WILL depend on each other to meet our basic needs while officials are bringing in resources. There’s actually quite a bit that non-professionals can do after disasters to take care of one another. Our organization teaches those skills so that neighbors can organize faster.
Our challenge is getting people through the door.
Many Seattle residents do not realize a major earthquake (or large-scale power outage) could overwhelm professional responders for days/weeks. Explaining the reality of a disaster (we anticipate first responders will be overwhelmed) is difficult to do succinctly and can be so alarming that many cannot continue to listen.
We need to change the narrative. We are designing our classes to be active, social, useful, and fun. People can meet neighbors, learn something unusual, practice solving problems together, and leave knowing they could make a meaningful difference for those around them after a disaster.
We need help developing a promotional approach that makes these classes attractive to people who might never seek out a traditional preparedness class - including recent Seattle transplants, groups of friends, people looking to meet others, and even couples or first dates looking for an inexpensive and interesting experience.
Our existing emergency-orange-and-black branding can feel severe. We need help keeping our recognizable identity while creating a warmer, more welcoming image that appeals to Seattle's diverse communities.
We would like a Taproot team to help us develop a clear, friendly promotional concept and messaging system for our ongoing Emergency Hub training series.
The finished materials should quickly communicate that these classes are:
• Free and open to everyone
• Fun, active, and social
• A way to meet and connect with neighbors
• Useful even for people with no emergency preparedness experience
• An opportunity to learn practical skills that could make someone genuinely useful after a disaster
We want the consultant(s) to help us find the right words, visual direction, headlines, calls to action, and overall tone so that someone unfamiliar with Emergency Hubs can understand the appeal within seconds.
The project should produce coordinated promotional materials that can be reused as classes rotate through neighborhoods across Seattle.
Specific deliverables:
• Yard sign
• Poster
• Window cling
• Counter card / table tent
• Handout – business card size
• Handout – postcard size
• Car magnet
• Bookmark
• Stickers
• Template for Microsoft Powerpoint and Google slides using similar branding
- Billboard
- Bus ad space, interior
Success would be a campaign that makes people think, “That sounds useful—and actually sounds like fun. I want to go.” It should make disaster preparedness feel approachable, social, empowering, and relevant while helping us build a city where neighbors are ready to support one another when outside help is limited.
