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Motown PR, marketing lessons
The music died for the original Motown publicist last week, as the newly released Once in a Great City examined why 1962–64 was Detroit’s zenith, the pride that preceded decades of decline.
Motown PR man Al Abrams, the first paid staffer hired by Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr., died Saturday at age 74. He is best remembered for his power to shape, share and spread a story and a mood that captivated the world.
Pulitzer winner David Maraniss, a Detroit native who grew up elsewhere, does a masterful job of explaining the impact Detroit and its leaders had on the world in the 18 months from fall 1962 to spring 1964. The story weaves together everything from politics and policy to race relations to culture (Motown and the Mustang came alive in those months while Detroit finished second in its run to win the 1968 Olympics).
More than half a century later, Motown is still the sound of Detroit, synonymous with the Motor City. Maraniss simultaneously shows how the exuberance, the creation and creativity of that era (as well as the conflicts) were also helping sow the seeds of destruction that would follow, including the 1967 Detroit riots, escalated population loss, the decline of the auto industry and the city’s eventual…
