A third space for transformation—a sanctuary of innovation, through hybrid digital and physical experiences. Rebrand Cities is accelerating small business growth and digital transformation globally. Our work has impacted over 1,000 small businesses in 10 cities and 3 countries (the United States, Canada, and Haiti) in diverse communities with small businesses that are invisible in the digital econ
omy. How Rebrand Cities Started
Rebrand Cities mission is to connect the 46% of Small Businesses in America that have no website. Our goal is to get 10,000 small businesses online in collaboration with Wordpress. This simple idea materialized after a conversation with Chris Taylor, CMO of WordPress.com in Philadelphia, at the WordCamp US conference in December 2016. The idea was to fly some WordPress developers to Detroit and create websites for local businesses. This materialized into a Super Bowl weekend Hackathon, Feb. 3-4, 2017, where we worked on nine Detroit small business websites during a 48-hour period. The Rebrand Detroit project was the brainchild of Hajj Flemings, Founder of Brand Camp University and was funded by the Knight Foundation as one of the inaugural winners of the 2015 Knight Cities Challenge. which Rebrand Detroit was the foundation for Rebrand Cities. The project objective is to bring the innovation economy to Detroit neighborhoods. The project strategy is designed to help revitalize these communities with a tech and brand enabled strategy that is a catalyst for neighborhoods to become innovation districts.
