Not like legions of others, Adam Clark is not any Wawa superfan. The comfort retailer was not a part of his upbringing in Central Pennsylvania, nor did he expertise it till maturity.
“I’m not somebody who’s going to drive out of my means simply to get to the Wawa if I must get fuel or something like that.”
Clark puzzled about others’ obsession with Wawa. He couldn’t perceive it. “It’s actually a cult-like following,” he stated. “In the event you meet somebody who’s obsessive about Wawa and also you counsel that another comfort retailer or fuel station is best, they are going to go off on you about why Wawa is best.”
The enterprise reporter for New Jersey Advance Media seen that’s very true in South Jersey, the place he stated Wawa is so ingrained within the tradition that individuals put on Wawa hoodies and even get Wawa tattoos. Some folks, he stated, even go there on their wedding ceremony night time — deliberately.
Then, in 2021, the concept got here to Clark: What if he explored that obsession? He envisioned not simply an article about Wawa, however a bigger story about folks and why we type these relationships with manufacturers.
His editor, Jeff Roberts, remembers the pitch coming throughout an annual undertaking assembly the place Clark brings him concepts for high-level tales. Roberts, an affiliate director at NJ Advance Media, remembers the undertaking on Wawa was one in every of perhaps two or three dozen concepts Clark delivered.
“The Wawa pitch jumped off the display as a result of it was distinctive. It was totally enjoyable. And it was one thing I knew nobody else would have,” Roberts advised Poynter in an electronic mail. “And after we mentioned it in a follow-up assembly, it was clear he was engaged and had a particular curiosity in seeing it by means of.”
Roberts additionally known as it “the last word journalistic curveball” within the age of COVID-19 and conflict in Europe, and an opportunity to offer readers with a little bit of refined levity amid dying and sickness.
Roberts and Clark agreed that it wasn’t a tough promote. Roberts stated he might visualize what the story could possibly be in Clark’s arms and “how totally unique it might be.”
Clark thought his concept was greenlit simply as a result of he stated they know New Jerseyans love Wawa. “We all know they love studying about Wawa,” he stated, “And so it actually was about, how would our viewers wish to eat a Wawa story? How will we meet folks the place they’re, and the way will we demand their consideration? And I feel that that strategy — the oral historical past of Wawa — it makes you cease and say, ‘Wait, what?’”
Clark had by no means accomplished oral historical past earlier than, however he thought it’d be enjoyable to strive. “I assumed it might be a very efficient method to strategy this matter that we all know folks love,” he stated.
He additionally considered story presentation, and the way they might be capable to current it in a means that may be enjoyable and digestible, however nonetheless insightful and compelling. He began reporting it out in 2022.
In November 2023, NJ Advance Media revealed “The Oral History of Wawa,” a undertaking by which Clark tells the story of Wawa from its origins to its place as a cultural phenomenon in New Jersey. He experiences that NJ has essentially the most shops among the many six states the place the chain operates. “The Backyard State obtained its first style in 1968. However enlargement wasn’t sufficient for the Wooden household,” the reporter wrote, in reference to the household behind the Wawa chain. “7-Eleven invented the comfort retailer idea. Wawa needed to excellent it. It pounced on strategic benefits: clustering shops to dam out rivals, working on Sunday when others have been closed and weaving itself into the very cloth of communities.”
“The Oral Historical past of Wawa” is a multi-chapter journey that weaves quotes from sources, audio clips that includes a few of their voices, and unique and archival pictures of Wawa’s previous and current.
Clark stated the reporting for this undertaking was as rigorous as some other conventional in-depth enterprise undertaking. “We didn’t lower any corners as a result of it was an oral historical past, or as a result of it was going to be an alternate presentation.”
Clark learn two books in regards to the historical past of Wawa. He interviewed greater than 40 folks for this undertaking, reporting on the road and scouring Fb teams to search out sources. He visited a Wawa archive at a museum in Delaware. “I even frolicked simply standing in Wawa, observing what was taking place to type of put myself in that pure surroundings.”
As soon as all his reporting was full, it was a pure evolution. Clark stated NJ Advance Media teamed up with Carl Roberts, a contract internet developer who has beforehand labored with the publication. In “The Oral Historical past of Wawa,” quotes from among the people Clark interviewed are offered as a textual content message — with the supply’s avatar, identify and title. Clark stated it initially seemed like an AOL instantaneous messenger chat room till it was modified to look as a bunch textual content.
A nonetheless from “The Oral Historical past of Wawa,” a undertaking reported by Adam Clark of NJ Advance Media. (Courtesy: NJ Advance Media)
“After which we began discovering methods to reward readers for sticking with the piece,” Clark stated. “So we’ll drop in a cease movement video of any person consuming a hoagie right here. We’ll throw in a classic Wawa business there. What’s a parade of meals coming throughout the display? Let’s put audio in so you’ll be able to hear some bonus materials from the sources who’re quoted.”
Clark stated it was a staff effort, with a number of departments coming collectively to provide the undertaking.
Espresso and Wawa’s well-known hoagies apart, “The Oral Historical past of Wawa” additionally touched on “The Darkish Days” — as Chapter 4 is titled. Clark reported that the comfort retailer chain “suffered by means of botched expansions” into Connecticut and New York within the ’80s and ’90s. A former Wawa CEO, a customer-turned Wawa guide and extra sources supplied context about that point.
Clark having to report on a series didn’t change his strategy. “We all know that Wawa’s a enterprise and that their aim is to become profitable, and we have been simple about that within the story,” he stated. “I feel that made it extra attention-grabbing as a result of it gave us an opportunity to inform a narrative about capitalism, and actually perceive how Wawa’s creation and evolution was pushed by this must survive. And, after all, probably the greatest methods to outlive is to create a model that individuals can establish with and are available to see as a part of their very own identification.”
In April, Clark was introduced a winner within the inaugural Poynter Journalism Prizes. He acquired The Punch Sulzberger Innovator of 12 months, which is sponsored by The New York Occasions and honors a journalist or group that excels in new methods of executing the craft of journalism and whose work is a daring new strategy. Along with the prize, winners are awarded $2,500.
Since reporting on “The Oral Historical past of Wawa,” Clark stated his relationship to Wawa hasn’t modified a lot — apart from the truth that his daughter actually likes their delicate pretzels. He estimates that he now stops by the comfort retailer as soon as per week.
Perhaps.
