When Storytelling Becomes Dialogue

Poul Petersen was an ordinary Dane, with an ordinary insurance policy, from an ordinary insurance company: Almindelig Brand Insurance. But he felt that he had been unfairly treated when they denied his claim of 27.000 Euros compensation for the serious damages caused to his house by a storm. Their handling of the case had, in his opinion, been extremely poor. He tried in vain to make Almindelig Brand listen to his point of view, but his attempts fell on deaf ears. Then Poul became so bitter that he decided to share his frustrations with the rest of the world. Poul built a simple Web site titled Screwed by the Insurance Company, where he told his story It marked the beginning of a nightmare for Almindelig Brand. The story was good, it had great conflict and the rumour of the website spread like wildfire. By the time the site had reached 25.000 visitors, Poul celebrated its success by hosting an event to which he also invited the CEO of Almindelig Brand (who needless to say, didn’t show up.) The party caught the attention of the media and the story ended up in the national news, while Almindelig Brand watched in stunned amazement. The site had reached 80.000 visitors before Poul Petersen finally got his money.