Grand Rapids, Michigan Economic Development Video – grass roots style

posted by Tim on June 20th, 2011

Mashable recently had a great post on cities using web video to take back control of their public image. The initial video comes from Grand Rapids, Michigan. After getting dissed by Newsweek as a top 10 dying American city, some energized citizens and some talented folks at Creo Productions took downtown economic development into their own hands. So often, a community’s downtown economic development takes the slow-boat-to-China form of statistical analysis, feasibility studies, strategic plans and the now customary live, work, play, shop, etc., etc., marketing tag lines that now do little to create an energizing voice in promoting any community’s unique downtown personality. Hats off to Grand Rapids – by leveraging a 9 minute video, thousands of engaged citizens and a new media firm with a particular set of skills in storytelling – the Grand Rapids video effectively marginalizes the Newsweek piece. Maybe your town will be lucky enough someday to get housed by a major publication, and therefore awaken your city’s people to help tell the real story. Enjoy!