NEST: MAKERS UNITED DETROIT
TRADITIONAL PR | MEDIA RELATIONS
Nest, a nonprofit that works with makers to build a world of greater gender equity and economic inclusion headquartered in New York, was looking to launch their program Nest Makers United in the Detroit market in 2020. Detroit would be the fourth city in the organization's launch. As part of the launch, Nest Makers United would need assistance researching and creating a comprehensive landscape mapping of creative entrepreneurs, skilled craftspersons, hobbyists and/or small maker businesses. The organization would also need to identify local resources to understand how this community is—or is not—accessing those resources and what barriers exist. The research conducted from this would translate into programming for makers of Detroit. This launch would be different from previous Nest Makers United launches because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Love Publicity was selected to conduct three months of quantitative and qualitative research during the summer 2020 to help prepare programming for winter 2020 and winter 2021.
With three months to collect data and research the market, the Love Publicity team compiled a list of business resources/accelerator programs; community centers and community development corporations; funding/financing organizations; artisan markets/fairs/events and more. We conducted four virtual focus groups on Zoom from makers of various gender, race and ethnic backgrounds. Our goal was to secure at least 100 makers/artisans to complete an extensive quantitative survey about being an artisan in Detroit. A statewide shutdown in Michigan due to the COVID-19 pandemic meant Love Publicity had to get creative to reach our target research participants. So, we developed a media strategy to create buzz around the program launch in Detroit and encourage artisans to complete the survey.
Love Publicity secured interviews with 10 stakeholders from business accelerators and community organizations, facilitated four focus groups and recruited 106 makers/artisans to complete the survey through partnerships and media outreach. Love Publicity earned a wide range of media placement that included Fox 2 News, WDIV (Local 4), CW50 Detroit, Detroit Free Press, D Business, Model D Media, Michigan Chronicle and Motown Mom Musings. As a result, the Nest research team was able to analyze the results from our mixed-methods research approaches to create a comprehensive landscape report. Further, Nest began programming tailored for artisan/makers in the Detroit market in December 2020.
