Detroit Renaissance has launched an effort to grow the region's creative economy -- one of six initiatives outlined in the Road to Renaissance, a strategy to transform Southeast Michigan's economy.

Unveiling the new brand identity and Web site to a crowd of 200 creative professionals at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit Renaissance President Doug Rothwell said, "Globally, creative industries are estimated to account for more than 7 percent of the world's GDP and the annual growth of the creative industries is twice that of the service industries and four times that of the manufacturing industries."

Rothwell added: "We all know that we have a breadth of creative assets here in our region and this effort will not only build on these assets but allow us let the rest of the world know this is a great place to locate a creative business, source creative work or reside if you're a creative worker."

The brand "Detroit Make It Here" was designed by the creative community for the creative community. A team of creative professionals led by Birmingham-based ClearBlue developed the brand platform over a six month period.

"Detroit is an open canvas, with space available to try things, to start things, to create," said ClearBlue's Chip Humitz. "The raw grittiness, the vast landscape, the cultural and historical diversity create the fodder and inspiration that creative minds and companies thrive on."

The mark Detroit Make It Here was designed to be highly adaptable and flexible for usage across all media. Detroit Renaissance said it would be carried through three key channels: "push," through the traditional broad-reach media, and "viral" and "cooperative," which will rely on the robust involvement of the creative community in the region.

One opportunity to become readily involved was also soft launched at the event: a new Web site www.detroitmakeithere.com, a user-centric news, information and networking hub for creatives in Southeast Michigan. The site, which is powered by Crain's Detroit Business, will allow users to search and map more than 1,600 local creative companies. It will also present news on creative economy, profiles on local creatives, creative business event coverage and more.

Users who create profiles will be able to network with the community and showcase their work.

"Metro Detroit has been surrounded by metal for a very long time, while a seasoned, yet oddly underground, creative economy has been largely ignored," said Michelle Darwish, editor of Detroit Make It Here. "As a result, a large portion of our young talent bolt off to other cities without ever knowing the extent our assets. So we're here to fill a void -- to inform, to empower, to build and to unite the creative community through a central gathering place where strong journalism and respected data intersect with user-generated content."

Other aspects of the initiative where progress was outlined included:

* Developing a Creative Corridor on Woodward Avenue that acts as a platform and catalyst to, among other things, attract and retain talent, stimulate creative community output, and increase the presence of creative industries in Detroit and the region
* Establishing a Creative Business Accelerator within the Creative Corridor
* Developing a business attraction strategy to increase the density of creative economy enterprises in the Corridor.

Five year goals for the Creative Corridor include the formation of 50 to 100 new businesses, the creation of 800 to 1,200 new jobs, a 10 percent annual increase of new investment dollars, a 10 percent total property appraisals increase, and recognition of the region as a creative community.

More at www.detroitrenaissance.com.