Chrysler ad's burnished image is a start, but Michigan needs a robust, diverse economy more
No, that stunning Chrysler Super Bowl ad didn’t reduce Michigan’s unemployment rate, erase urban blight, fatten our paychecks or cure cancer.
But it sure made us feel proud.
Old media, new media and social media went crazy over the two-minute ad, which may have done more for Detroit’s self-esteem than it will for Chrysler’s sales.
“It held up a great American city so that we could all take another look and see an old workhorse in a new light,” NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams said Monday night in a three-minute segment about Detroit.
But did it send the world the message we want it to hear about Michigan?
Many of us who live here hung on the ad’s every word — narrated by Kevin Yon of Rockford.
Some of my friends said on Facebook that tears welled in their eyes as Yon spoke of “that hard work and conviction and the know-how that runs generations deep in every last one of us,” in a voice as gritty as Detroit.
An image from the new Chrysler 200 commercial featuring Eminem and Detroit.
Courtesy of Chrysler
A record 111 million people saw the Super Bowl, which was the most-watched television program ever. Presumably most of them saw the Chrysler ad, as well.
As powerful as the ad was, though, it didn’t tell the world that Michigan has fundamentally changed. I’m afraid it mostly reinforced Michigan’s lunch-bucket, metal-bending reputation.
As rap star Eminem said in the ad’s emotional ending, “This is the Motor City. This is what we do.”
Manufacturing is still critically important to the state’s economy, of course. And the Detroit Three automakers’ miraculous recovery from near death just a couple of years ago is great news.
But Michigan’s success will depend on how effective it is in attracting young talent that will help diversify the state’s economy into areas such as health care, information technology and a range of business services that aren’t dependent on the seesaw auto industry.
Building a more knowledge-based, entrepreneurial economy is a top priority of Gov. Rick Snyder. He calls it Michigan 3.0, the next phase of the state’s economy, following the agriculture and industrial eras.
It’s interesting to note that even the automakers are looking outside Michigan for their creative talent.
The Chrysler ad, for instance, was produced by Wieden+Kennedy, an advertising agency based in Portland, Ore.
And the Chrysler 200 featured in the ad almost wasn’t built in Detroit. The suburban Sterling Heights assembly plant that produces the car was slated to close as part of Chrysler’s 2009 bankruptcy reorganization.
But Chrysler decided to invest $850 million last year to keep the plant open only after receiving state business tax credits worth $1.3 billion over 20 years to invest in Sterling Heights and a related engine plant.
Matt Clayson, director of the Detroit Creative Corridor Center, said Michigan must leverage the auto industry’s rebirth into new sources of economic activity.
We became so auto-focused in the boom years of the 1990s that we didn’t worry all that much about diversification, he said.
“In the past 10 years, I think we became more auto-reliant,” Clayson said. “We lost our retailers, our banking companies, and we almost lost our advertising industry.”
But as Chrysler’s Super Bowl ad said, our know-how runs generations deep. We must translate that knowledge into new job-generating endeavors.
E-mail Rick Haglund at haglund.rick@gmail.com.
Comments
braggslaw
Thu, Feb 10, 2011 : 7:19 p.m.
Imagination and knowledge can only be fully realized with practical implementation. That is the key. People can sit around and day dream all day but without the financial capital, engineering knowledge and guts to execute nothing will ever materialize.
Richard Radler
Thu, Feb 10, 2011 : 4:26 p.m.
RRadler Rick Haglund is so wrong just like most of the highly educated and knowledgeable people in Ann Arbor and Michigan as well as our Governor. Those individuals emphasize education and knowledge unlike Albert Einstein, who famously stated, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." I believe that Eminem and Sergio Marchionne are oh so right and their commercial will generate a lot of imagination and enthusiasm in Detroit and Michigan! Hopefully our highly educated and knowledgeable citizens will not discourage it! Just think of Mr. Monaghan's imagination of 30 minute pizza delivery and what it did for Michigan. How much high level knowledge did he have?
alterego
Thu, Feb 10, 2011 : 2:12 p.m.
Stow and Go minivans rule! If only Chrysler would get the rear or middle windows to lower, then the family roadster would be closer to perfection.
braggslaw
Thu, Feb 10, 2011 : 1:52 p.m.
Michigan (and a few other states like Ohio) are committing slow suicide. Union controlled state employee unions, UAW etc. are driving business out of the midwest to places like Texas and Georgia. Comerica relocated their HQ to Dallas, NCR moved from Dayton to Atlanta, Pfizer closed down their facility in Ann Arbor in favor of their European and East coast facilities. Electrolux closed their manufacturing facility on the west side of the state. These occurences are not anomolies. For those in favor of the redistribution of income, soon there will be no more income to redistribute , as all the value added jobs have left. I suppose there will be no income gap because we will all be poor or at least poore than we were before. But hey we will all be equal.
rtracy
Thu, Feb 10, 2011 : 2:22 a.m.
I have owned chryslers many times never had a problem. I think they are great cars people need to stop buying imported cars and stand by american products through these difficult times. I am so tired of hearing people complain who dont bank locally and who dont buy american products and think they have the right to complain. My grandpa who lived through the depression knows why we should buy american. This generation is to stupid to figure out that its a big problem. Maybe if it the entire country starts looking like detroit people will wake up!!!!
giggletwin4
Thu, Feb 10, 2011 : 4:21 a.m.
@rtracy, I agree with your statement that we should buy American products during these difficult times in order to stimulate our own economy, but I think there should be a definition of "American" products. You call our generation "stupid," but I think that like many others, the Big Three have not clearly defined their products for those who are less-than-informed. People need to realize that these issues stem deeper than "imports" versus "American" cars. The Big Three tout their cars as "North American" products because they are not necessarily made in the United States. The "poster car" of Ford, one of the cars that re-vitalized Ford was the Ford Fusion, correct? However this is not necessarily an "American" car, it is manufactured in Mexico, hence, providing job opportunities to Mexicans--not Americans. Also, please do not insult imports, because if you hadn't noticed, the imports understood quality car-making a long time ago, which is which the Big Three have being running after their technology (such as Ford using Mazda platforms with Mazda being a Japanese company) in improving their cars. Also, please note that a majority of Honda and Toyota cars are manufactured and assembled in the United States, hence supporting our economy since these cars are so popular. So please do not assume that a car from The Big Three means All-American. Please reference below: <a href="http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2010/autos/1006/gallery.american_made/index.html" rel='nofollow'>http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2010/autos/1006/gallery.american_made/index.html</a>
Engineer
Thu, Feb 10, 2011 : 1:37 a.m.
Chrysler is not trust worthy. They bought back a lemon car(a jeep patriot) in Penn, and then auctioned it off in Michigan. A couple traded it in at a local dealer due to needing a bigger vehicle. We purchased it from the dealer and less than a year later have a leaky roof. Upon talking to the dealer we learn from their computerized history that it had been bought back by Chrysler for a leaky roof and many trips to the dealer. Problem is now after they moved it to Mi and auctioned it off that we are stuck with it and they refuse to stand behind it. They say we are the third owner and too bad. I will never buy a Chrysler product again and will go out of my way to tell the story. I never thought about what happened to lemon lawed cars after they were returned but I never would have thought a company would resell them. I would think you would want a better reputation than that.
Mary Bilyeu
Wed, Feb 9, 2011 : 11:14 p.m.
I don't know that I have any suggestions about what the next step to take is. But here's what I wrote on my blog about the ad, which I absolutely LOVED: <a href="http://foodfloozie.blogspot.com/2011/02/this-is-motor-city.html" rel='nofollow'>http://foodfloozie.blogspot.com/2011/02/this-is-motor-city.html</a>. Someone from London, Ontario wrote to me after reading it and said that her family had specifically come to Detroit recently just for the food -- Slow's, Hockeytown Cafe, lesser known places near the Casinos. People bond over food, after all ... :)