Twitter Drives To Motown To Woo Detroit’s Big 3

The popular social network Twitter has decided to relocate itself in Detroit, to serve marketers, mainly America’s recovering automotive companies. Twitter also has Midwest offices in Chicago and Cincinnati.

Twitter President of global revenue, Adam Bain said in a statement, “Detroit’s emerging mix of automotive and digital cultures made it a natural location for Twitter’s newest office, we’re excited to work face-to-face with the city’s most established brands and happy to play a role in downtown Detroit’s digital renaissance.”

The Detroit office manned by a handful of employees will be led by Yahoo veteran Greg Myrick and will be based in the M@dison Building, located in a historic 100-year old building shared by several other tech startups in the city.

Robert Weeks, a spokesman for Twitter, said the company will have a “handful” of employees in Detroit, and their efforts will be aimed at working with automotive brands and advertising agencies. He added that the company is “happy to play a role in downtown Detroit’s digital renaissance.”

Apparently the motive for shifting is that Twitter is looking for improved closeness to car companies with hefty ad budgets. It is worth noting that some Detroit car companies have made remarkable financial recoveries from years of agonizing reorganization and low auto sales, prime amongst them General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co and Chrysler.

The space to Twitter has been provided by Dan Gilbert, the chairman of Detroit-based Quicken Loans Inc, who is using his convincing powers to induce companies to come to cash-strapped Detroit. He is hopeful that other companies will follow in Twitter’s wake.

In an interview he said, “We’re in negotiations with other names as recognizable as Twitter.” “I think that Twitter is confirmation of (Detroit’s) credibility,” Gilbert said. “This isn’t 200,000 square-foot deal or anything but it’s a deal that is important. Twitter coming downtown is exactly the kind of innovative company Detroit needs to advance our vision of becoming one of the most exciting high-tech and web-centered corridors of growth and activity found anywhere.”

Twitter has been aggressively selling its “promoted Tweets” in an effort to boost revenue. Analyst eMarketer estimates that Twitter’s overall revenues, a major portion of which comes from advertising will be $259.9 million this year.

This expansion, they hope will help them entice car Detroit makers. Detroit’s Big 3 and their gigantic chain of suppliers and dealers spend billions every year on advertising.