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Civic BrandingDefining Detroit through the Media

Brenna Williams

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Above: Cover ar ticles in Wired (June 2009)2, The

Economist (June 2009)3 and Time (October 2009)4

Previous Page: Faygo billboard in Detroit1

Frequently, the national media portrays

Detroit negatively. Journalists choose to

focus on the crime, unemployment, blight,

and poverty within the city, while frequently

ignoring the more uplifting stories about

Detroit. As a result, the rest of the country

has a limited view of the city. For example,

John Schiavone recently moved to the city

and before he visited, he assumed Detroit

resembled the image of Detroit that the

media created: “I fell into the trap of making

my assumptions based on what I’d been

reading about Detroit. I expected nothing but

empty storefronts and abandonment. But the

area as a whole didn’t look despairing at all.

The hardship was surprisingly well masked.”5

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Above: View of Detroit , 19556 Above: Motown Records’ first headquar ters, 19598Above: Time, October 5th 19597 Above: Interior of the Fisher Building, 19729

In contrast to the contemporary media

portrayal of Detroit, the city has been

represented prominently in the past. During

the 20th century, the media focused on the

many promising aspects of the city. Detroit

built its reputation on industry, cars, music,

and sports and was regularly discussed

favorably in regards to these industries. The

city also experienced times of despair, as

do most large cities. Similar to the present

situation, the media highlighted these

difficult times. However today’s criticisms are

quite harsh. For example, when evaluating

Detroit, Forbes magazine writes, “living with

rats, fires, garbage, druggists, prostitutes and

weirdos is simply too big a price to pay.”5

Above: Spor t s Illustrated cover featuring Detroit Tiger

pitcher, Mark Fidr ych, April 197810

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The barrage of dispatches that have appeared in the national media overwhelmingly portray Detroit as a post-apocalyptic setting whose people are desperate to get out.”5

Ruin porn has become a popular tourist

activity in Detroit. Photos of abandoned

buildings are now synonymous with the city

and are the normal. There is a “deliberate

effort to publish images of a city or a region

that sensationalize devastation.”12 Thomas

Morton, from Vice Magazine, is quite

outspoken with his disdain for ruin porn. He

shares a story of a 24–year–old journalist,

arriving into Detroit to document the city.

Yet, the journalist was in town for less than

a full work day. He spent that time capturing

the three most highly photographed buildings

within the city, the Fisher Plant, the Packard

Plant and Michigan Central Station.13 These

images resulted in a photo essay titled “The

Remains of Detroit.” What Morton finds

most amusing is that visitors use those

three abandoned buildings, once a symbol

of Detroit’s successful and industrious past,

differently in recent press. They are used to

symbolize the devastation associated with

the current recession. However, the buildings

have been shut down for years and have been

in a steady state of decline since. Morton also

claims that photojournalists are cropping

photos in order to eliminate prosperous

imagery from the scene.13 The public has an

image of Detroit imprinted in their minds

and the mass media, as well as smaller

endeavours like blogs, are furthering that

preconcieved notion by continuing to publish

images of desolate and abandoned buildings.

Right : Fisher Auto Plant11

Ruin Porn

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Michigan Central Station [closed in 1981]

The “usual venues”13 for “documents of despair”13are Michigan Central Station, the Fisher Body Plant and the Packard Plant.

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Fisher Body Plant [closed in 1991]

The recession...can be maddeningly tough to document, especially for photojournalists. You can’t take a picture of the GDP.”13

—Bob Garfield, host of On the Media

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Packard Plant [closed in 1957]

Seeing ruined buildings in Detroit satisfies readers because it’s what they expect to see.”12—Celeste Headlee, The Takeaway

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At one site in particular...photographers were essentially cropping out the adjacent property.”13

—Thomas Morton, Vice Magazine

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If you live or work in Detroit for any length of time, you train yourself to filter out the blight and focus on the beauty.”5

The image of Detroit has been degraded

significantly. The national media constantly

depicts the city in a state of terrific distress.

Ruin porn has proliferated in the national

news and blogs alike. Residents are tired of

the festishizing of the city and the ignorance

of the true value that it holds. They are

disappointed by the cropping that occurs

within the photojournalists’ lens. As a result,

they are trying to create a zoomed out

portrayal of the city. The four ad campaigns

that follow demonstrate how Detroit is

encouraging the rest of the nation to “focus

on the beauty.”5 Pure Michigan, D Brand,

I’m a Believer, and Selling Detroit are four

campaigns that attempt to create a new image

for Detroit. They appeal to the nation, as well

as to the local residents. Regardless of their

delivery, all four campaings seek to rebrand

the city and create a new normal for Detroit.

Left and previous page: Houses in Norham, a Detroit neighborhood18

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Pure Michigan describes Michigan as “majestic, mythic and magical”21 and focuses on the benefits the state has to offer.

Right: View of Pure Michigan billboard20

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target audience [neighboring states]

Pure Michigan is an ad campaign that was

initiated in 2006 to increase tourism in

Michigan. Matt Canzano, executive creative

director at McCann Erickson Worldwide, says

that the goal of the campaign was to take the

best imagery of the state and illustrate that

Michigan is a desirable place to visit.23 He

acknowledges that the state has numerous

problems, but the campaign does not dwell

on these issues and instead focuses on the

numerous and varied assets that the state

possesses. This campaign is directed toward

out-of-state travelers23 and relies on state

investment in order to fund the numerous

media formats of the advertising. However,

it can be argued that the investment is

worthwhile because “for each dollar invested

in Pure Michigan advertising, the state got

back $2.94 in new, incremental taxes paid by

these out-of-state visitors.”24 Additionally,

the campaign has won numerous awards,

from the US Travel Association and Forbes,

as well as others.25 Although the campaign does

not focus directly on Detroit, the city is included

in some of the television and radio ads. This,

along with the other ads, is accompanied by Tim

Allen narrating, which encourages an emotional

response to the ads. Furthermore, there are

numerous parodies of the emotional Pure

Michigan advertisements, mocking the sensitive

style of the campaign, but that ultimately

indicate the success of the campaign.

When highlighting Detroit, the ads focuses on the assets of the city: the casinos, the Tigers and the music.

Left : View of Pure Michigan billboard22

Pure Michigan

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“Let the light of more than 100 lighthouses

burn through the fog of every day life. Let the

light of Pure Michigan beckon you back to

what’s real and true.” —Pure Michigan “Lost

and Found” TV Commercial

“Welcome to the winter wonderland of Pure

Michigan.” —Pure Michigan “Chance of Snow”

TV Commercial

“Life just plain tastes better when its Pure

Michigan local food.” —Pure Michigan “Fresh”

TV Commercial

“Come uncover the riches and bounty of Pure

Michigan.” —Pure Michigan “Treasure” TV

Commercial

“Water has so much potential. Don’t keep

it bottled up. Dive in. To the waters of Pure

Michigan.” —Pure Michigan “The Potential of

Water” TV Commercial

“When you need to feel something real, come

to Detroit. Where we are brought alive by

the reds, greens, silvers and blues.” —Pure

Michigan “Color My World” TV Commercial

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The fundamental thing is being honest and beyond non-apologetic—being honest and proud of what Detroit truly is.”32

“

—Jim Townsend, D Brand creator

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target audience [21–34 year olds]

D Brand is a civic branding strategy

sponsored by the Detro Metro Convention &

Visitors Bureau. The goal of the campaign is

to brand the city, but to do so with a story

that people and businesses can adopt,

as opposed to using “rah-rah logos and

slogans.”35 The story that D Brand uses is

not fabricated. It focuses on the qualities

that the creators believe the city already

has, but that are not being flaunted. The

story is that cool comes from Detroit. In

the logo, the words “music”, “sports”, “cars”,

“culture” and “gaming” are located under

the D, emphasizing how these cool things

come from Detroit. The marketing strategy

is geared toward 21–34 “early adopters” who

live within a five hour radius of Detroit.36 The

campaign focuses specifically on Detroit and

uses a strong backstory, logos and image to

appeal to the target group. They also market

maps that clarify and unite five “destination

districts.”34 They are Downtown, Macomb,

South Oakland, North Oakland and Dearborn/

Wayne. Additionally, this campaign hopes to

work in a complementary manner with Pure

Michigan.23 Unfortunately, the brand did not

have as lasting an impression as was initially

desired. The creators of D Brand envision

civic branding as a long-term process, yet due

to the recent economic recession, the brand

was not able to resonate as strongly as it did

in its initial launch.23

“. . . a story of Detroit as the place where cool comes from. Of course, one key to the story’s success was to avoid literally claiming Detroit was cool. That would be highly uncool.”35 —Eric La Brecque

Previous Page: D Brand logo33

Left : D Brand map of metro Detroit34

D Brand

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Left and this page: D Brand maps of district s

surrounding metro Detroit34

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The “I’m a Believer” campaign, launched in

2011, is directed toward Detroit residents

and aims to increase volunteerism in the

city.23 The campaign was conceived by two

media experts, Paige Curtis, the CEO of The

Curtis Group and Sandy Hermanoff, CEO of

Hermanoff Public Relations38 because they

were disappointed by the lack of enthusiasm

in the city of Detroit. Hermanoff and Curtis

brought the campaign proposal to Mayor

Dave Bing, who, as Hermanoff recalls, was

immediately drawn to the proposal. Mayor

Dave Bing and leaders in the surrounding

counties play an influential role in the ad

campaign. Within the past few years, the

city of Detroit has put a focus on increasing

their volunteer efforts. In January of 2009,

President Obama encouraged more Americans

to participate in volunteer service work. As

a result, Mayor Bloomberg of New York City

started Cities of Service, an initiative that

stresses the importance of service work in

the city. Detroit was an early participant in the

coalition and was one of ten cities to receive a

$200,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation

to hire a Chief Service Officer, a person who

is “dedicated to developing and implementing

a citywide plan to increase volunteerism and

targeting volunteers to address their city’s

greatest needs.”39 It is unclear as to whether the

Cities of Service Action Plan for Detroit inspired

the “I’m a Believer” campaign. However, the “I’m

a Believer” campaign provides

Giving back. Sharing with others. Lending a helping hand. These words describe what is means to volunteer.”37 —Mayor Bing

Right : I ’m a Believer logo41

I’m a Believer

target audience [local residents]

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36 37

Right : View of utate veli t sdfag afgafa asdgas

Right : View of utate veli t sdfag afgafa asdgas

the service guidelines for Cities of Service

on their website indicating that there is

some correlation between the two. The

“I’m a Believer” campaign encourages

people to volunteer by marketing volunteer

opportunities with various organizations.

They are trying to inspire residents to give

back to their city and trying to make that

process as simple as possible. The city is

focusing on public safety, neighborhood

restoration and education37 as the areas that Above: I ’m a Believer television commercials featuring

local Detroit “celebrities”42

need improvement and therefore volunteers.

The campaign utilizes television, radio,

print ads and billboards. The campaign

is estimated to cost around $10 million

dollars, yet is only costing $20,00038 because

the people who put together the campaign

worked for free and many aspects of the

campaign were donated, thus indicating

strong support behind the campaign.

However, there is criticism of the campaign

as well. Critics feel as if the campaign is too

traditional and outdated in terms of media

format and style. Rather than focusing on

mediums such as billboards and print ads,

there should be an emphasis on the digital

media and encourage interactivity. After all,

this campaign stresses that the residents

interact with their own city. Also, there is

critique of the local “celebrities” who were

chosen to be in the ads, due to the fact

that they appeal to an older generation, as

opposed to the younger one.40

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Selling Detroit is an initiative of Time Inc.,

as part of their Assignment Detroit project.

Assignment Detroit is a year-long endeavour

to report about Detroit, from Detroit. Five

local firms participated in the competition

and their work was displayed on three

different websites. The public was able to

vote on which campaign they liked best, yet

regardless, all ads were displayed in Fortune

magazine. Previously, Time Inc. had published

a plethora of negative articles about Detroit.

Left : Leo Burnett entr y43

RIght : GlobalHue entr y44

Selling DetroitWhen discussing this project, the president

of Time Inc. said, “But a lot of smart peole

are committed to bringing the city back. . .

we’ll do out part,”49 thus indicating a change

in thinking for the publication. While this

competition seems to have garnered press,

there was not a dramatic effect. One critic

argues that the initiative for rebranding

cannot come from an outside source, even

if it is local firms who are producing the

product. Also, there is little belief that a

single campaign can rebrand the city, especially

one that is promoted by a displaced national

publication. However, perhaps the most

profound critique of this campaign is that the

print ads themselves are not very enticing. “The

Leo Burnett Agency entry features rock ‘n’ roll

star Kid Rock. But Kid Rock’s image is

predicated, in part, on being from troubled,

hardscrabble Detroit. Hardly a reputation the

rebrand would hope to perpetuate.”48

Selling Detroit challenges local design firms to create a recruitment ad in order to encourage the creative 18–34 year old demographic to move to Detroit.”50

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Left and this page: Campbell-Ewald,45

Doner,46 McCann Worldgroup47

target audience [18–34 year olds]

42 43

1. Technochick [Angie Linder]. “Faygo

Billboard.” Flickr. 14 June 2006.

2. Cover. Wired. June 2009.

3. Cover. The Economist. June 2009.

4. Cover. Time. October 2009.

5. The Detroit News, Nolan Finley. “How the

world sees Detroit.” The Detroit News. 22

Oct. 2009. NewsBank. 17 Jan. 2011. Web.

6. Dominis, John. “View of Detroit.” Time &

Life Pictures. 1 Jan. 1955.

7. Cover. Time. October 1959.

8. “Hitsville U.S.A, Detroit.” Sixties Soul

Music. Web.

9. Rentmeester, Co. “A Shot of Vaulted

Ceilings in the Fisher.” Time & Life

Pictures. 1 Jan. 1972.

10. Cover. Sports Illustrated. April 1978.

11. Motionblur [Chris Luckhardt]. “Fisher

Body 21”. Flickr. 16 Feb. 2008.

12. “Is ‘Ruin Porn’ Art or Journalism?” Narr.

Celeste Headlee. The Takeaway. Public

Intl. Radio. WYNC, 6 July 2010. Radio.

13. “Ruin Porn.” Narr. Bob Garfield and

Brooke Gladstone. On the Media. Natl.

Public Radio. WNYC, 25 Sept. 2009. Radio.

14. Hemmerle, Sean. “The Remains of

Detroit.” Time Photos.

15. Metroblossom [David Schalliol].

“Residential Juxtaposition.” Flickr. 17 July

2009.

16. Cmtobin. “Detroit Boarded/Painted.”

Flickr. 26 June 2010.

17. Moved to [Jon DeBoer]. “Neighbors.”

Flickr. 24 April 2010.

18. Hudkina. “Condon, Detroit, Michigan.”

Flickr. 5 Dec. 2008.

19. Bing Maps. Detroit, MI.

20. Welles Photo [Katherine Welles].

“Welcome to Michigan.” Flickr. 9 Nov.

2010.

21. Page, Libby. “Tourism PR: Shaping your

Next Vacation Destination.” Public

Relations Out Loud. Web.

22. Strange Red [Cory Pampalone]. “arace

billboard 3.” Flickr. 10 May 2009.

23. “Rebranding Detroit.” Revitalization and

Business Focus Detroit. Panel Discussion.

21 Jan. 2011.

24. Boyd, Liz. “Governor Granholm Signs

Legislation to Fund Pure Michigan

Campaign.” Michigan.gov. 15 Dec. 2010.

Web.

25. Borgstrom, Kirsten. “Pure Michigan

Campaign Wins Top Awards Named Best

State Tourism Radio and Best State

Tourism Niche Marketing in America.

Michigan.org. 2 Sept. 2009. Web.

26. Travel Michigan. “Dog Sled Racing.”

Michigan.org. Photo.

27. Malace, Raymond J. “Big Sable Point

Lighthouse.” Michigan.org. Photo.

28. Travel Michigan. “Apples on Tree.”

Michigan.org. Photo.

29. Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors

Bureau. “Spirit of Detroit.” Michigan.org.

Photo.

30. Gusman, Sandra. “Miners Falls.” Michigan.

org. Photo.

31. Malace, Raymond J. “Comerica Park.”

Michigan.org. Photo.

32. Ramsey, Clare Pfeiffer. “The D Brand and

You.” Model D. 15 Jan. 2008. Web.

33. D Brand. “D Logo Square.” Visitdetroit.

com.

34. D Brand. “D Maps.” Visitdetroit.com.

35. Bernhard, Torben. “Interview with

Eric LaBreque Applied Storytelling.”

Reinvention Summit. 8 Dec. 2010. Web.

36. D Brand. “Brand Development Research

Findings and Recommendations.”

Visitdetroit.com. 5 Oct. 2006. Web.

37. “Detroit Service Cities of Service- Action

Plan.” Believeindetroit.org. Web.

38. “I’m a Believer Launches to Create an

Army of Believers.” PR Newswire. 11 Jan.

2011.

39. “Cities of Service and Rockefeller

Foundation Award First-Ever ‘Cities of

Leadership Grants’ to Ten Cities to Hire

Chief Service Officers.” Citiesofservice.

org. 18 Jan. 2011. Web.

40. Wattrick, Jeff T. “Not Yet a Believer: Six

Ways to Improve the I’m a Believer-Detroit

Campaign.” Mlive. 18 Jan. 2011. Web.

41. Logo. Believeindetroit.org.

42. “I’m a Believer PSA.” www.facebook.com/

detroitbeliever. Video.

43. Leo Burnett. Untitled. Selling Detroit

Assignment Detroit. Advertisement.

44. GlobalHue. “Pleasantly Weird Ad.”

Selling Detroit Assignment Detroit.

Advertisement.

45. Campbell-Ewald. “Make Your Mark

Detroit.” Selling Detroit Assignment

Detroit. Advertisement.

46. Doner. “Shackelton Plan.” Selling Detroit

Assignment Detroit. Advertisement.

47. McCann Erickson. “Creativity Lives in

Detroit.” Selling Detroit Assignment

Detroit. Advertisement.

48. Boches, Edward. “Selling Detroit With a

Print Ad?” Creativity_Unbound. 7 Dec.

2009. Web.

49. Sauer, Abe. “Time Inc. Atones for Years

of Defaming Detroit With ‘Rebranding’

Contest.” BrandChannel. 16 Nov. 2009.

Web.

50. Elliot, Stuart. “In Detroit, Agencies

Compete to Sell City as a Creative Haven.”

The New York Times. 15 Nov. 2009.