Digital Disruption in Detroit and Beyond

Change is good, but disruption is even better – it’s what leads us beyond the good to the great. The 2019 Day Show, hosted by AdCraft Detroit, took place this month and focused on the idea of disruption. The event brought a unique collection of speakers to the city who talked about success and failure (and the need for both), and how shaking things up often requires more than a delicate touch.

Getting a glimpse into these brilliant and diverse minds was a breath of fresh air. I ended the day having gained insights from people who play in the digital space in non-traditional ways, including a Platinum Music Artist and a Pulitzer-prize Winning Journalist.

Of all the engaging presentations and conversations, here are my three biggest take-aways from the event.

1. Remember to look up. There is highly successful automotive work happening around the world. Our roots run deep in the Motor City and it can be easy to stay zoomed in, but it’s important to pick our heads up and learn from our counterparts. Crafting creative, meaningful and memorable experiences for our customers, like this prank Virtual Reality experience from Jaguar in New Zealand, helps strengthen brand affinity. 2. Robots aren’t (always) better than people.

Between machine learning, predictive analytics, and streamlined data digestion, it’s no wonder we’re making big strides in innovation from everything to cancer detection to safer driving. These capabilities are incredibly powerful, but they can’t quite compare to the capability of our own brains to learn from past failures, write our own stories and create the future we envision. 3. Rethink luxury branding.

Cadillac is leveraging cutting edge technology, like Super Cruise Highway Compatibility to redefine the very nature of luxury ownership. By focusing on new technologies and creating lifestyle-focused ads, like Rise Above, Cadillac is deepening their relationship with customers and helping drive global growth.

The 2019 Day Show took place at the historic Gem Theatre, established more than 100 years ago by a group of socially prominent women in Detroit. The venue seemed like a natural pick by AdCraft Detroit since they've also been around for more than 100 years. The organization serves more than 2,000 members in the metropolitan Detroit area who come from all segments of the marketing communications industry.

AdCraft Detroit, the Gem Theatre, and The 2019 Day Show aligned in a way that authentically reflected Detroit's past, present and future, and gave us a snapshot of digital disruption in the city and beyond.