'Move Here. Move The World': Detroit Delivers Bid For Amazon Headquarters [VIDEO]
DETROIT (WWJ) - Detroit has submitted a powerful bid for a new Amazon headquarters that would bring with it 50,000 new high-paying jobs.
Leading the effort, billionaire businessman and developer Dan Gilbert made the announcement Thursday — promoting on social media a hype video as part of the pitch.
Titled "Detroit. Move here. Move the world," the YouTube video includes the tagline: "With space to grow, collaborate, and thrive, Detroit is a city unlike any other. Meet the Detroit you don't know."
In three-and-a-half-minutes, the video (by Stephen McGee Films) showcases, among other things, the city's efforts at urban farming, technological innovation and music, as well universities and gorgeous landscapes in the surrounding state.
The filmmaker, Stephen McGee, says his desire was to have people see the city in a way that wasn't wide angle. One vista shows wind turbines in the distance just beyond the Renaissance Center -- not a dream -- but a view framing the city from the northwest which captures windmills across the border in Canada.
"We are always shaping, moving, cultivating what's next. We are small business savvy and billion dollar business bold," the female narrator says.
"Detroiters are born moving. Our wings have a deep history. Our roads paved the way for every future highway of tomorrow. An international hub full of vitality of Michigan strength."
The pitch is a group effort. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan tapped Gilbert to head up a the 59-member bid committee which includes county executives, university presidents, politicians and prominent CEOs from across the metro Detroit region.
Bloomberg has ranked Detroit's chances in the top ten, a list that includes such heavy weights as Atlanta, Austin, Denver and Chicago.
