North Carolina-based Ignite Social Media opens downtown Birmingham office
Source: Metromode, 8/19/2010
It's been three years since Ignite Social
Media spun out of Birmingham-based Brogan & Partners, and the start-up
has returned to its roots with some jobs.
The Raleigh, North
Carolina-based firm recently opened up a satellite office in the same downtown Birmingham building as its parent company. Ignite Social Media has
brought seven jobs along and expects to have a local staff of a dozen
people or more within a year.
"We're growing very quickly," says
Jim Tobin, president of Ignite Social Media. "We've basically doubled in
size every year since we were formed."
Ignite Social Media helps
its customers filter through all of the noise in Facebook, Twitter, and
other social media outlets while building and managing their brands.
The company decided to tap Metro Detroit's deep talent pool to help make
these things happen for their customers. The Birmingham office, where the COO is based, handles account
service and
media buying operations.
"There is some really serious talent
in southeast Michigan," Tobin says. "A lot of it grew from the auto
industry."
Source: Jim Tobin,
president of Ignite Social Media
Writer: Jon Zemke
Oakland County Medical Main St attracts $11M in investment, 275 jobs
Source: Metromode, 8/12/2010
Healthcare, an industry long taken for
granted in Metro Detroit, is proving to be an increasingly strong job
source in Oakland County.
The Oakland County Medical Main Street
program has attracted $11 million in investment, creating 275 new
positions, over the last two years. The latest round comes from Royal
Oak Medical Devices. The company plans to spend $2.6 million to expand
its medical device design, manufacturing, and distributing operations, a
move that is expected to create 26 new jobs over the next few years.
"In
the past we have taken these jobs a little for granted because they
were part of our infrastructure," says Maureen Krauss, director of the
Dept of Economic Development and Community Affairs at Oakland County.
No
longer. Oakland County's life sciences industry employs 93,000 people
and is projected to create another 45,000 jobs over the next decade,
according to a study by the Anderson Economic Group. This industry also
has deep roots in the research sectors. Just under 4,900 clinical trials
are currently underway in Oakland County -- more than what is taking
place in California, Florida, Texas, and New Jersey.
Oakland
County started its Medical Main Street program
in 2008 with the idea of helping fast-track growth in the life sciences
industry. "It keeps the talent, assets, and people here," Krauss says.
"It's a really strong part of our retention program."
Source:
Maureen Krauss, director of the Dept of Economic Development and
Community Affairs at Oakland County
Writer: Jon Zemke
CitrinGroup moves to downtown Birmingham, doubles revenue
Source: Metromode, 7/29/2010
CitrinGroup is looking to capitalize on
its recent growth by moving its offices from suburban office towers in
Southfield to a downtown space in the heart of Birmingham.
"I
have traveled and lived all over the world, but Birmingham is a real
entrepreneurial place," says Jon Citrin, founder and CEO of CitrinGroup and a
34-year-old Birmingham native/resident. "There are a lot of
entrepreneurs and small businesses here."
Citrin was also looking
for a centrally located space that his clients would enjoy visiting.
Downtown Birmingham's central location and vibrancy provided the perfect
location for his growing 7-year-old firm.
The investment firm
has doubled its revenue in the last 18 months and expects to grow it
another 50-75 percent over the next year. That fast-yet-consistent
growth has allowed Citrin to hire two employees and bring on three
independent contractors last year, which he hopes to repeat again over
the next year. Staffing levels currently stand at four full-timers and
10 independent contractors.
Source: Jon Citrin, founder and CEO of Citrin Group
Writer:
Jon Zemke
Oakland County's Emerging Sectors program hits $194M in investment
Source: Metromode, 7/15/2010
If Metro Detroit's economy is turning a
corner, then chances are it's going to be first apparent in the numbers
from its new economy programs, like Oakland County's Emerging Sectors.
The signs are looking good.
The business attraction and retention
program for Oakland County has helped facilitate $194 million in new
investment and create about 5,900 new jobs through June. That's enough
to surpass total numbers in both categories for all of 2009. County
officials expect similar growth for the rest of this year.
"It's
certainly a great trend," says Maureen Krauss, director of economic
development and community affairs for Oakland County. "So many projects
that were on hold last year are back on track again."
The Emerging Sectors
program began in 2004 with plans to diversify the county's economy and
replace vanishing manufacturing jobs. It helps international companies
looking to expand their North American operations and local firms based
in the new economy.
Some of the recent investments include WABCO
Reman Services of Rochester Hills investing $6 million and creating 228
new jobs; Southfield's Direct Sourcing spending $2 million to create
100 new jobs and retain 80 others; and EcoStore USA (Auburn Hills)
putting $2.5 million towards the creation of 30 new jobs and the
retention of three more. These and more made up the investment for June
alone.
Source: Maureen Krauss, director of economic
development and community affairs for Oakland County
Writer:
Jon Zemke
Meet PickMiDate, a website giving dates as prizes
Source: Metromode, 7/1/2010
Imagine combining dating with a game show and local business promotion. Erin Rose and Sean O'Brien did just that and came up with PickMiDate.
"Sean and I were kicking around ideas and the idea formed in two hours," says Rose, co-founder of PickMiDate.
The web start-up allows singles looking for fun to vote on the best Q&A answers posted by fellow singles. The contest winners get an all-expenses paid date to a local downtown, such as Birmingham or Royal Oak or Ferndale. Voters will also receive some prizes.
"Our goal is to promote local businesses and local downtowns," says co-founder O'Brien. "If we grow, that's a bonus but we want to help local singles and local businesses."
The fledgling Birmingham-based start-up plans to focus on the suburbs along the Woodward corridor first. It hopes to spread to other nearby posh locales, such as Grosse Pointe, Northville, and Ann Arbor within the year.
Source: Erin Rose and Sean O'Brien, co-founders of PickMiDate
Writer: Jon Zemke
Downtown Birmingham's hiredMYway plans to add 10 positions
Source: metromode, 6/10/2010
During Erinn O'Connor's 20-plus years as a
recruiter, one comparison always sprung to mind - dating.
So
it's no wonder that her own business, downtown Birmingham-based hiredMYway, uses a
dating service model on the web to help people find jobs. It basically
pairs employers and job seekers with matching needs and skills in the
same way a dating service would.
"I have always approached
recruiting as a dating service," O'Connor says. "I always joked I was
going to create a website around that concept."
The 3-month-old firm is off to a great start so far, going from three employees to
six employees, two interns, and a handful of independent contractors. It
plans to launch its service on June 20 and hold its first career fair
in July at the Rock Financial Showplace
Center in Novi. More career fairs will follow later this year.
The
company plans to establish its local presence for the rest of 2010, and
then expand nationally. That could lead to another 10 new hires within
the next year.
Source: Erinn
O'Connor, owner of hiredMYway
Writer:
Jon Zemke
Oakland County's OakGov Challenge taps techies for apps
Source: metromode, 5/27/2010
Oakland County is looking for a few good
apps, or at least some for its OakGov Challenge.
The county
teamed up with AT&T to offer $10,000 in cash prizes to software
developers to come up with applications, or apps, for smart phones, or
web-based software that will streamline local government, making it more
efficient and cost-effective. The OakGov Challenge's organizers
purposely haven't asked for any specific types of apps and haven't
specified which problems they are to address.
"What happens over
time is the general public's needs change," says Phil Bertolini,
deputy county executive and CIO for Oakland County. "We don't claim to
know everything they want."
First prize receives $6,500, second
prize is $3,000, with $500 for third. The competition is open to anyone
who lives, works or goes to school in Oakland, Genesee, St. Clair,
Lapeer, and Livingston counties. Anyone who creates an app or comes up
with an idea for one can submit it by June 11. The finalists will be
chosen by July 8 and the winners will be announced on August 13.
For
information on the contest, click here.
Source: Phil Bertolini, deputy county
executive and CIO for Oakland County
Writer: Jon Zemke
McCann hires 150 in Birmingham, plans to do it again
Source: metromode, 5/20/2010
What recession? That's what the people at McCann-Erickson's
Detroit office are asking these days now that the advertising agency has
gone on a serious hiring binge that doesn't look like it will let up
anytime soon.
McCann Worldgroup, located in downtown Birmingham,
now rounds out to 400 employees and 10 interns after hiring 150 people
in the last year. It expects to keep hiring at that pace for the
foreseeable future, hopefully adding 150 more within the next year.
"We're
going to continue looking for more national accounts outside of
Detroit, primarily of companies based in the Midwest," says Garry Neel,
president and CEO of McCann Worldgroup.
The company achieved
this growth at a time when local ad agencies are struggling or worse by
diversifying its client base. It counts not only General Motors as a
customer, but also Karmanos
Cancer Institute, Travel Michigan (the award-winning Pure
Michigan campaign) and the German-based Aldi grocery store chain.
"We
handle their U.S. operations," Neel says. "We won that account last
year."
Most of its hires have been primarily in the digital area.
McCann handles everything from Internet marketing to website
construction to smart phone applications. It recently handled all of the
digital website production for GM's divisions.
Source: Garry
Neel, president and CEO of McCann Worldgroup
Writer: Jon Zemke