FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 21, 2010

PRESS CONTACT:

Mike Scott or Amy Benner

248-922-3344

mscott@intellitrend.com

abenner@intellitrend.com

The Detroit Regional News Hub and Intellitrends LLC releases the second in a series “The Detroit Pulse”, a semi-annual index study designed to measure the reflection of improvement and attitudes towards the City of Detroit

Clarkston, MI – Intellitrends LLC, a market research and strategy company, designed and implemented the first wave of a semi-annual survey reflecting the thoughts and opinions of metro Detroit area residents on current revitalization efforts for downtown Detroit.  The survey, funded by the Business Leaders for Michigan with a grant from the New Economic Initiative for Southeast Michigan.

The Detroit Pulse, a survey of over 829 residents in the metro Detroit area and 1201 non-residents across the U.S., summarizes vital information in a published report that can inform and support current and future revitalization efforts through on-going tracking and measurement of:

·         Use and frequency of visits to downtown Detroit

·         Ratings of downtown in various attributes (i.e., as a destination for sports, entertainment, cultural, dining, shopping, residential experiences)

·         Perceived progress of revitalization efforts

·         Key factors influencing and dissuading people from visiting downtown more often

·         Media sources shaping and influencing perceptions

Some key finding in the benchmark wave of The Detroit Pulse:

·         At least 91% of residents in southeast Michigan think Detroit is perceived negatively or extremely negatively by the news media, but at least 48% say they love living in metro Detroit despite the city's flaws.

·         85% of southeast Michigan residents believe Detroit is negatively or extremely negatively perceived nationwide, while 61% of people outside Michigan had a negative or extremely negative perception of Detroit.

·         83% of southeast Michigan residents compared with 91% of people outside Michigan associate Detroit with the auto industry.

·         Six in 10 non-Michigan residents think Detroit and southeast Michigan is a poor place to live; one in two think it's a poor place to invest in, and one in three think the region is a poor place to do business.

·         55% of southeast Michigan residents associated the revitalization of the city with more jobs, and 53% of residents also included new uses for vacant and abandoned properties as a way to revitalize the city.

Marjorie Sorge, Detroit Regional News Hub executive director, said the goal of the perception survey was to find out what people inside and outside of Michigan think of Detroit, and how to best tell the city's story to news media, nationwide "to try to get balanced stories out there."

For a review of the full report complete with graphics please call or visit Intellitrends at: http://www.intellitrend.com or 248-922-3344 for your copy. 

About INTELLITRENDS Market Vision and Strategy Company (www.intellitrend.com)

Marlene Stone founded Intellitrends LLC in 1989.  Intellitrends, a Women Certified Business entity, is a full service market vision and strategy company providing market research products and services to clients including market intelligence data, customer and employee feedback measurement, WIN/LOSS reviews establishing benchmarks for best sales practices, market opportunity identification, and innovation testing programs.

Intellitrends guiding philosophy is that each research study commissioned should have actionable application; depth and insight to provide information that is both measurable and can be used for continuous refinement, improvement and competitive advantage. www.intellitrend.com

About the Detroit Regional News Hub

The Detroit Regional News Hub connects journalists with the experts, stories and data on key topics so they can write or report more complete, multi-dimensional and nuanced stories about the Detroit region. Without spin, the Detroit Regional News Hub conveys the strengths and the assets of the region while owning up to its challenges. Funded by the New Economy Initiative

and Business Leaders for Michigan (formerly Detroit Renaissance) the Detroit Regional News Hub works collaboratively with a host of local partners to provide the experts, stories and data.  These experts include the region’s leaders in business, economic development, government, community and philanthropic organizations as well as education. www.thedetroithub.com