NY Times article today previews a Time, Inc. competition involving 5 local ad shops.
The initiative to help change what may be the most dire urban image in America is being sponsored by Time Inc. as part of a yearlong project, Assignment Detroit, that involves reporters and editors from Essence, Fortune, Money, Sports Illustrated, Time and related Web sites.

Several advertising agencies with offices in the Detroit area were asked to develop campaigns; five agreed to take part. Their work is to appear in the Dec. 7 issue of Fortune, due Nov. 23, as well as on three Web sites: cnnmoney.com, fortune.com and time.com.

. . . Visitors to the Web sites will be able to vote, beginning on Monday [NOV. 23], for their favorite among the five campaigns. The winner is to be announced on Dec. 2, during an annual awards ceremony in Detroit known as the D Show.
A cool video entry from Campbell-Ewald in Warren features DJ Ro Spit, owner of Burn Rubber in Royal Oak.

Entries also will include new Web sites, blogs, mock postcards and cellphone apps. One agency recruited Kid Rock for its campaign.

Here's what a Time exec says:
“The whole idea of the contest is that we believe in the renewal of the city. I don’t pretend to have the answer to solve the problem. You have to expect it’ll take many, many years to recover. But a lot of smart people are committed to bringing the city back. We’ll do our part.”