Cool factor lures the young, artsy to Detroit
Louis Aguilar/ The Detroit News
Detroit, city of 100,719 vacant parcels and three Starbucks, has discovered its marketing niche: land of the young, daring and bohemian. And more businesses, foundations and city leaders are investing in the idea.
It celebrates the city's gritty appeal to youthful adults and the artistically inclined — think of Chrysler LLC's "Imported From Detroit" slogan that debuted in a Super Bowl commercial featuring Eminem — as the source of a raw creativity that makes Detroit unique.
It's the ethos that seems to drive many events and investments in Detroit these days even as the city undergoes an epic battle against dwindling population and prosperity. The push is on in tourism, private investments, housing plans and marketing.
And there are growing grass-roots efforts by artists and foundations to promote Detroit.
The latest example came Tuesday, when the Kresge Foundation announced its third annual $25,000 no-strings-attached fellowships, among the most lucrative awards for individual artists in the nation, to 12 area residents who will use the money to pursue their creative endeavors and contribute to a high-profile local arts festival in 2013.
Even neighborhood-level events are finding donors, like this month's Willis Village Block Party, sponsored by the influential Midtown Detroit group, which attracted the young and artsy around Avalon International Breads and other small retailers.
Recently, the Woodbridge home of Angela Topacio and Matt Didio hosted 300 people for the annual garden party of the Detroit Artists Market — the first time in decades the event was held in the city.
"My friends in New York, L.A., Europe all think Detroit is really cool, and, thankfully, so do more and more people here. The energy seems great right now," said Angela Topacio, an artist and managing partner of Gyro Creative Group downtown.
The Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau has been targeting the young for four years now. "The 21- to 34-year-old demographic is the best target audience for Detroit," said Larry Alexander, CEO of the convention bureau.
The brand identity resulted from surveys of more than 1,300 visitors and focus groups in five cities that identified Detroit as "the American city where cool comes from," Alexander said.
"They are open-minded and adventurous opinion-setters. This age group is considered to be the best type of visitor for whom Detroit can be positioned as a new destination, ripe for discovery."
A recent success: The Detroit Movement electronic music festival on Memorial Day weekend, which attracted record paying crowds of nearly 100,000. Downtown hotels such as the DoubleTree Fort Shelby say young tourists are definitely a presence.
"We are pleasantly surprised at the number of young people who come into town to enjoy an event and make a weekend out of it. It's not something we counted on," said Bill Aprill, director of sales at the hotel.
