I have a new neighbor. He just moved here from Chicago and he's excited about the move. So my neighbor goes to the dry cleaner and tells the woman at the counter that he just moved here. "Why would you do that?" she says. He goes to the supermarket and the same thing happens.Here's a guy who relocated his business and employees to Michigan to take advantage of our skilled workforce, low cost-of-living, quality healthcare system and world-class educational institutions. And the very citizens of his new community are asking him why he came here. So Mike got fed up. And rightly so. That's why he's using his radio station to launch a bold initiative called Breaking the Cycle.
ities have brand values greater than Prada or from the title of this blog, say Nescafe.
Visitors to our agency know Webster. They seek out Webster. They guard their food from Webster. Who's Webster? Some hot-shot new creative talent? No, he's my father's dog who comes to our offices every day. A sometimes too-smart-for-his-own-good Labradoodle. Why is there so much fascination about the symbiotic relationship between ad people and dogs at work?
It's a given that advertising is a stress-filled profession and it’s well known that reducing stress is a key to a healthy life.
Michigan is now in its sixth year of negative GDP growth, as it has been working through a long and difficult restructuring of the auto industry. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics at the end of June, employment in automotive vehicle and parts manufacturing is now down to only 2.4% of nonfarm jobs in Michigan, a remarkable change from about 7% in 2000.We're proud to serve as one of Taubman Centers' advertising agencies. We're also proud to share a strong positive outlook on Michigan. Now, off to the mall ...With the ripple effect commonly associated with the loss of manufacturing jobs, it’s not surprising our state recently reported 15% unemployment. That’s the highest in the nation and unfortunately, we believe that it will get worse before it gets better. Nonetheless, we are encouraged that a protracted bankruptcy of GM and Chrysler has been avoided. The companies are now able to stabilize and position themselves to begin growing again once the national economy improves.
Our state, the eighth most populous state, has about 10 million people. It has great resources and significantly more diversity in employment than is recognized. The R&D and high-tech sectors that were originally built around the automotive industry are morphing into countless other industries. Today’s southeastern Michigan has over 8,000 tech establishments and there are more engineers per capita than any other state in the U.S.
This leads to the second highest overall R&D expenditures of any state. With this growing knowledge base in place and favorable cost of living, the state has become a hub for advanced technologies. Numerous entities from battery research to clean technologies to defense research are already located here. Others have announced investments to take advantage of the available talent pool.
In June, General Electric announced it will be opening its Advanced Manufacturing Technology and Software Center in southeast Michigan in late 2009. They will be investing $100 million in a former Visteon automotive parts plant and eventually will employ 1,100 people. Announcing the facility, chief executive Jeff Immelt told reporters, “we can be low cost and still access a great work force in Michigan.”
