The bidding for Amazon’s second headquarters has been fierce. All in all, 238 different cities are vying for the chance to house 50,000 Amazon employees. Not surprisingly, many cities chose to include video as part of their pitch.<\/p>\n
We watched videos from dozens of cities, and noticed interesting differences and commonalities across many of them. Here’s our take on who would win based solely on their marketing video, and a look at the trends that emerged across the different cities.<\/p>\n
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All cities have a certain something that sets them apart. Whether it’s a beautiful mountain vista, exciting nightlife, or\u00a0award-winning food, there’s got to be a reason why so many people want to live there.<\/p>\n
One approach to these videos that seemed to be really popular essentially amounted to a branding video for the city. Rather than addressing Amazon’s requirements point-by-point, some cities chose to showcase the best that they have to offer.<\/p>\n
After all, an exciting city,\u00a0with a high quality of life to\u00a0offer, would be pretty compelling as a location for HQ2. Amazon is already planning to make a major investment in the city they select, so their wish-list doesn’t have to be in place right off the bat.<\/p>\n
The video from Detroit stands out for several reasons.\u00a0The branding is simply excellent, and the video is very representative of Detroit. You’ll see flashy muscle cars, construction and industry, the arts and music, and a great culinary scene. It’s also got an undercurrent of a redemption story, since in many ways, Detroit is still rebounding after being particularly hard hit by the recession.<\/p>\n