When Skidmore Studio announced its move from downtown Royal Oak to the M@dison Building, the media heralded another company moving 20-plus jobs to downtown Detroit. A little more than a year later, the creative agency has hired another nine people and continues to grow.
"We are creatively finding places for people to be part of the team," says
Tim Smith, president & CEO of
Skidmore Studio.
The 54-year-old company serves as the anchor tenant for the M@dison Building, the eclectic hub for Quicken Loans Chairman Dan Gilbert's emerging downtown tech corridor being branded as Webward. Skidmore Studio and its team of 29 "creative souls" (as Smith describes his employees) occupy the fourth floor and have enough room to expand for the remaining five years of the firm's lease. Its most recent hires include a copywriter, video editors and a handful of graphic designers. Its newest hire occurred just last week.
Skidmore Studio has watched its workload grow primarily from new business coming from other downtown-area-based firms.
"It's being driven by Detroit-based companies," Smith says. "Not just M@dison Building start-ups but companies based elsewhere in the city. Companies like DTE Energy, Little Caesar's and the Detroit Tigers are knocking on our door and saying we want to work with you guys."
Source: Tim Smith, president & CEO of Skidmore Studio
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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