City of Sterling Heights Case Study

The City of Sterling Heights, ranked fourth in size within the State of Michigan, mirrors many other cities throughout the Midwest. While the city touts amazing services, great schools and a growing economic development base, it doesn’t have the same national reputation as Detroit or the tourism ecosystem offered by its in-state counterparts. The city needed a platform–a storytelling strategy–in order to attract business and residents.

Identity set out to establish a compelling campaign narrative and storytelling platform for the City of Sterling Heights reflecting an aspirational vision, complete with campaign messages and a visual campaign concept designed to connect people, businesses, and places in one powerful community. To start the process, we dedicated resources to discovery and research, including hours of conversations with staff and council members, paired with a robust audit and deep dive into community surveys, existing messaging and analysis of cities both in and outside of Michigan

The selected campaign, called “Look No Further,” encompassed a simple idea: “We know we are providing a place for people to find what they need to thrive, and we want our residents, business owners and visitors to seize that opportunity and live their best lives.” Additionally, the campaign concept would be entirely fueled by the voices of residents and the business community, including the Chaldean Community Foundation, AGS and several small businesses.

Identity then designed and executed the go-to-market strategy for the campaign, utilizng a combination of surgical, location and motivation-based advertising on Google, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and streaming platforms (Spotify, Pandora), in addition to select sponsored content and strategic partnership investments. 

While the City of Sterling Heights maintained excellent relationships with its hyperlocal media contacts, the city turned to Identity to help drive awareness among the Detroit area’s larger media outlets. Moreover, our team was tasked to spearhead media strategy and responses on behalf of several major projects and investments made by the city, including:

• The redevelopment of the iconic and historic Lakeside Mall, which is slated to become a $1 billion mixed-use project featuring retail, multifamily, senior living and entertainment options
• The launch of the Arsenal Alliance, a partnership between Sterling Heights and neighboring city Warren, a program designed to attract more military investment in the area.
• A strategic media event promoting the city’s partnership with the Ground Emergency Medical Transportation (GEMT) Coalition, which secures additional federal dollars through an ambulance reimbursement program to offset the cost of EMS services paid for with Medicaid and Medicare.
• The grand opening of the city’s new state-of-the-art community center.