CHICAGO | Economic & Business Development

[the urban politician]

I tend to have a philosophy that "greatness", in its heart, is somewhat about bullshit. You have to sell yourself to create a cluster, and as that cluster grows and snowballs, something great comes out of it. Every great place had to do it during some points in their history, even New York.

In a way I sort of disagree in that I believe Chicago has a growing problem of standing out in the crowd. We have a much more crowded field of great cities in America today as compared to 1893. I feel we need to do a bit more boasting and grandstanding to reel in more international tourism business, although I understand that this rubs some people the wrong way, particularly those of a mild-mannered midwestern persuasion.

But we also should remember that for a long time, this is how Chicago once was, and how it got the nickname "Windy City".

[marothisu]

Chicago definitely needs better marketing. I'm full of anecdotes but I've met and also shown around numerous people from outside this country and I don't remember a single person saying "Yeah that's about what I expected." The general sentiment is that basically they thought it was just some city with not much to do in the middle of the country and that they thought it wasn't nice and that it had crime everywhere. Every. Single. Person i've shown around (which is not just a few people - in the multiples of large handfuls). It's the same thing every time "Wow, I didn't know there was so much here and I wasn't expecting it to be so nice." Usually what they know about Chicago the actual city has to do with the news - and it's basically only about crime these days. The expectation is a crappy city where crime is rampant even in tourist areas and it's not nice.

The people who know about Chicago are the ones who've actually been to Chicago, or maybe they've seen features on TV/Internet about it. This even goes down to my American co-workers here in NYC who were born and raised in the NE (or moved here 20 or so years ago from another country). Clueless too. Maybe back in the day people were less clueless, but considering the media talks about places to visit nowadays in terms of the bay area, LA, Miami, etc - Chicago kind of gets lost in the fold especially for people who are under the age of 40.

Just to get it in there, my fiance does marketing for a living (with a masters in it), and the very first time I showed her around the city her statement was "The marketing for Chicago is terrible.." I tend to agree. We all know about Chicago, and there are some people who are over the age of 40 or 50 who know about it, but for someone who is under the age of 40, it's not as in the forefront anymore. People are going to visit Portland, Seattle, SF, etc sometimes now before they come to Chicago.

Internationally, you could make a case for why they shouldn't "waste their time" in Chicago, but I think you'll be surprised at how many international travelers have Chicago as their favorite city after visiting. The problem is getting them to come in the first place. As someone mentioned before, a lot of international visitors go to national parks and what not - which makes complete sense. NYC makes sense, as well as DC/Philadelphia/Boston. And I do love cities like SF and LA, but if you say "Why would you visit Chicago?" then I could make the same case for those places too technically. People go to LA for Hollywood and think that movie stars are just roaming the streets everywhere. Most people wouldn't go if it wasn't for that expectation.

[the urban politician]

^ And the problem is, we apparently have a bunch of Tom in Chicago types (no offense intended) handling the marketing around here.

"We're happy just the way were are, mind your own business, and don't send nobody nobody sent" etc etc.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ And the problem is, we apparently have a bunch of Tom in Chicago types (no offense intended) handling the marketing around here.

"We're happy just the way were are, mind your own business, and don't send nobody nobody sent" etc etc.

Yeah pretty much. There's nothing wrong with being content, but the general outlook of the city internationally for people who have never visited is far from what some people think. I mean numerous people I met and showed around it went down to "I have to tell people back home about Chicago and to stop listening to the media about the city." When Chicago makes the news internationally these days, it's usually not for good reasons (especially since the Bulls aren't winning championships and don't have any big superstars anymore). I mean it's to the point where last year there was that art installation that was about "gun sharing" in the Loop and the state media in China literally interpreted it as a legitimate thing. Tons of people in China think Chicago now has gun sharing and still do to this day.

Let me bring something up - At least according to 360 at Hancock Tower, Houston has more international visitors than Chicago. HOUSTON. There's some other studies that had Chicago above Houston but not by much. Look, we could justify cities like NYC, Vegas, LA, and Miami - but Houston? Come the F on. Maybe it's being close to Mexico, I don't know - the flight is 2-2.5 hours versus 4-4.5 hours to Chicago from Mexico City. Shouldn't matter anyway.

Tourism in Chicago is doing really well obviously, but at the same time getting more international visitors would be a big boost economically and probably more than some realize.

[marothisu]

Also I'm happy to report that the Chicago-based Asian food delivery company Chow Bus finally expanded into Queens where we now live. The app is great and allows us to get delicious Chinese food delivered from Flushing (since there's really no good Chinese food around us). Hopefully it catches on here. Love how it allows you to order from multiple restaurants at once and get it delivered with one person.




Snapsheet raises $29M to expand its SaaS offerings

https://www.builtinchicago.org/2019/...-29-m-series-e

Doubling down on analytics has paid off for Snapsheet.

The Chicago-based insurance technology provider, which launched in 2010, announced on Monday that it has raised a $29 million Series E round.

..

“Over the past few months, we’ve been taking our platform and building it out as an SaaS tool that we’re extending to market,” he said. While auto appraisal, the company’s bread and butter, will be the company’s first move, Yoder said that Snapsheet is working to expand beyond its current focus into other claims such as bodily injury, property and commercial claims.

..

Yoder also points to the Chicago tech community as a major source of inspiration. Snapsheet’s entire team is based in Chicago and Yoder noted that they have been able to build their entire team locally.

“Chicago is our lifeblood,” he said.

[Tom In Chicago]

^No offense taken. . . I guess it's a good thing I'm not in charge of "marketing" for the city of Chicago. . . but then again. . . I'm not sure exactly who is. . . Dick Wolf maybe?

. . .

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Tom In Chicago

^No offense taken. . . I guess it's a good thing I'm not in charge of "marketing" for the city of Chicago. . . but then again. . . I'm not sure exactly who is. . . Dick Wolf maybe?

. . .

Who knows. Their funding was cut big time a few years ago and they closed some of their international offices. Maybe Pritzker can provide them with a little bit of money again, and maybe they can open up international offices again.

https://www.ttgmedia.com/news/news/i...cus-on-uk-1502

. Last year Choose Chicago closed tourism offices in Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Japan and Brazil. Jobe insisted that Illinois was supporting Chicago and the wider state

They also closed their offices in Canada and Mexico, but I think didn't close their China offices (Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, and Guangzhou)

[Tom In Chicago]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Let me bring something up - At least according to 360 at Hancock Tower, Houston has more international visitors than Chicago. HOUSTON. There's some other studies that had Chicago above Houston but not by much. Look, we could justify cities like NYC, Vegas, LA, and Miami - but Houston? Come the F on. Maybe it's being close to Mexico, I don't know - the flight is 2-2.5 hours versus 4-4.5 hours to Chicago from Mexico City. Shouldn't matter anyway.

I think by many metrics Houston is a more diverse city than Chicago is. . . I'm not sure why people are surprised by that fact. . .

. . .

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Tom In Chicago

I think by many metrics Houston is a more diverse city than Chicago is. . . I'm not sure why people are surprised by that fact. . .

. . .

That's the narrative lately, but actually it's really not that much more diverse. The same people who are saying this are claiming that Houston is more diverse than NYC for what it's worth. Houston is more diverse than people realize, but it's not really much more than Chicago.

Foreign born in Europe
Chicago: 95,715 people
Houston: 26,185 people

Foreign born in Asia
Chicago: 133,213 people
Houston: 132,862 people

Foreign Born in Africa
Houston: 39,214 people
Chicago: 25,825 people

Foreign born in Central America
Houston: 410,681
Chicago: 265,576

The foreign born from Mexico is about the same for the 2 cities. The difference here is that there's over 66,000 people from El Salvador in Houston versus about 3400 for Chicago and there's over 32,000 more Hondurans in Houston than Chicago.

Foreign born in Caribbean
Houston: 20,744 people
Chicago: 10,463 people

Foreign born in South America
Chicago: 26,945 people
Houston: 26,063 people

So basically, Chicago has a lot more European foreign born spread across multiple countries while the difference in Central American for Houston is because of only a few populations (El Salvador and Honduras mainly). Out of the 129 countries and broad regions the US Census reports in their B05006 table, Chicago has 22 of them with at least 3000 people in the city limits. Houston has 20. If you lower this to 1000 or more, then Chicago has 57 countries/small regions which fit that requirement. Houston has 55.

Also, many tourists from other countries are not necessarily looking to go to XXYYtown. It helps, but it's not usually a priority when visiting America. You can take NYC for example - at most, tourists visit Manhattan Chinatown and Little Italy (what's left of it) since it's next door. They rarely visit any other ethnic areas of town unless it's some Chinese people who have local friends who take them to Flushing, or have family who live there or Brooklyn Chinatown. Those parts of town aren't in Manhattan anymore and tourists whether international or domestic rarely visit (except for Flushing which has hotels).

I think diversity is overstated with regards to international tourists and misses what they're looking for. So many people I have taken around are oddly all about having really good hamburgers and steaks. I have a friend from Morocco but has lived in Paris for over 20 years. He's one of those really "refined" people from Paris who will wear a scarf when it's 75 degrees out - but whenever he would visit me in Chicago, he would only want me to take him to really good burger, steak, and pizza places. My fiance's parents are one of the only international people I ever met who didn't want that stuff (except for steak) and just wanted Asian food.

Diversity of options on what to do is more important for many people, and at the end of the day Chicago definitely has Houston beat on that type of thing. People are more about sights that are famous or well renowned for their trips. Central Park for example is extremely busy with international tourists during the summer - so much that it's not even enjoyable because there's too many damn people there for a park. A well off international tourist is going to be able to go to countries to get the legit cuisine and culture anyway. They don't go out of their way to visit Roosevelt Avenue in Queens to get Filipino food or nearby Indian food.


Good steak is oddly hard to find outside of the US (apart from a few countries) and Chicago is one of the best cities for it. Don't underestimate the amount of international tourists who want to taste a legitimate steak and know they can't get it in their countries very easily. My fiance's dad told me once that he doesn't even care for other country's cuisines because in China there's so many different types of cuisines and so many dishes - some very different depending on the region. However, when he came to Chicago he badly wanted a legitimate steak.

[pullmanman]

Tribune

Sterling Bay last week announced the creation of a new investment arm, called Prysm Life Sciences, that will plow millions of dollars into emerging biotech and pharmaceutical companies.

Through Prysm, Sterling Bay and other investors will provide funding to early stage companies with the goal of creating new, high-paying jobs in the city.

Sterling Bay already has benefitted from the growth of tech jobs in Chicago in recent years, signing companies such as Google, Uber, Gogo, Twitter and Glassdoor to office leases in its buildings.

It has made investments in young companies, one of which it plans to relocate to Chicago as part of the Prysm venture. Prescient Medicine Holdings will move later this year to Lincoln Park from Hummelstown, Pa., chief operating officer Kevin Stineman said. The company will move 85 workers, with plans to hire another 40 after relocating to Chicago, Stineman said in an email.

There have been multiple articles in the Trib and Crain's about the shortage of lab space for life-sciences companies, so it's good to see Sterling Bay is dumping money into addressing that. The relocating company mentioned here seems to develop and sell pretty advanced medical screening methods, if I understand correctly. Sounds cool, and the hiring figures are great news.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by pullmanman

Tribune



There have been multiple articles in the Trib and Crain's about the shortage of lab space for life-sciences companies, so it's good to see Sterling Bay is dumping money into addressing that. The relocating company mentioned here seems to develop and sell pretty advanced medical screening methods, if I understand correctly. Sounds cool, and the hiring figures are great news.

Good to see they're pumping some of the money they made back into something that will lead to even more jobs. I'm sure they will sign onto SB buildings too. They are smart...

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Tom In Chicago

I think by many metrics Houston is a more diverse city than Chicago is. . . I'm not sure why people are surprised by that fact. . .

. . .

Man, you must be tired of Chicago or something.

I don’t really care if more Hondurans live in Houston than Chicago. Probably more jobs for them down there and it’s closer to home.

But as far as tourism is concerned, as Wooderson would say, “whew, you’re damn right!” I’m surprised. It’s outright pathetic, actually shamefully dysfunctional on Chicago’s marketing front, that more international tourists are making travel plans to visit Houston than this place:

Originally Posted by vexxed82

From Friday (5/10)

There's something about the transparency of the glass and shape of the window bays that makes NEMA look like it's built out of Lego bricks and I love it.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Who knows. Their funding was cut big time a few years ago and they closed some of their international offices. Maybe Pritzker can provide them with a little bit of money again, and maybe they can open up international offices again.

https://www.ttgmedia.com/news/news/i...cus-on-uk-1502



They also closed their offices in Canada and Mexico, but I think didn't close their China offices (Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, and Guangzhou)

The 'Chicago is Epic' campaign had a lot of potential, but it never got off the ground due to the Rauner budget shutdown.

[Kenmore]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

The 'Chicago is Epic' campaign had a lot of potential

[Tom In Chicago]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Man, you must be tired of Chicago or something.

You clearly haven't been listening to a word I've been saying. . . but carry on with your unbridled homerism. . .

. . .

[OrdoSeclorum]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

But as far as tourism is concerned, as Wooderson would say, “whew, you’re damn right!” I’m surprised. It’s outright pathetic, actually shamefully dysfunctional on Chicago’s marketing front, that more international tourists are making travel plans to visit Houston than this place:

I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Houston has more "visitors" from Latin America due to IAH and Hobby's focus as Latin American hubs. That, combined with the number of foreign born Hispanics living in Texas, means that scores of Mexicans and Honduran visitors are going to land in Houston and rent cars to go someplace else.

I've been to Houston more times than I can count. Over 100. And I simply reject out of hand the idea that they are getting a significant amount of "tourism" of the bachelorette party; visit Navy Pier; go to the museum; go see "The Lion King" variety. Considering its size, there may not be a city with less to do per capita world wide.

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by OrdoSeclorum

I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Houston has more "visitors" from Latin America due to IAH and Hobby's focus as Latin American hubs. That, combined with the number of foreign born Hispanics living in Texas, means that scores of Mexicans and Honduran visitors are going to land in Houston and rent cars to go someplace else.

I've been to Houston more times than I can count. Over 100. And I simply reject out of hand the idea that they are getting a significant amount of "tourism" of the bachelorette party; visit Navy Pier; go to the museum; go see "The Lion King" variety. Considering its size, there may not be a city with less to do per capita world wide.

Kinshasa?

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Tom In Chicago

You clearly haven't been listening to a word I've been saying. . .

. . .

^ I've read every single word you've said in this discussion, multiple times.

You want us to follow Manchester, UK's model. You think we should cater to a "different kind" of tourist (whatever that means) and then you went off about most tourists being "brain dead slobs", etc etc..

It's ridiculous. We're the 2nd/3rd city of the US, a nation arguably as wealthy and large as all of Europe, and we're supposed to compare ourselves to the 2nd city of an island nation the size of Michigan.

We should at least set our sights no lower than Paris or Berlin as role models for international recognition. If you think that's Chicago being too big for its britches, then, once again, I'm thoroughly glad that you aren't handling marketing for this city.

Looks like we simply won't agree on this topic so I'm going to move on...

[Chi-Sky21]

I honestly do not know how much marketing is really going to help. Any of you make choices on where to go abroad based on a pic or article in a magazine or online? I do not. I am going to known places with tons of history, or tropical beaches or because word of mouth. Lets face it, Chicago has a limited amount of things to offer. Nobody is coming here for beaches, outdoorsy stuff, gambling, and to some extent even history. We have the Art Institute, Opera/shows, and great architecture which are world class but the people who care about that are a limited and or dying breed. You think anyone is coming here from abroad for Navy Pier ? Give me a break. We need to host festivals (even those usually only draw from the states though) and fight for the best conventions, get people here for that and then word will spread slowly. Rahm really messed up by not agreeing to terms to host the World Cup here, THAT would have really drawn people. I just do not see it happening for people coming from abroad. Those are major trips for anyone and Chicago just does not justify the added time and expense for what a lot of people want. And TUP, Chicago will NEVER be close to Paris, London, Rome. NO WAY. It is just impossible for us , we simply do not have the draws that they do and frankly can't catch them. They were the center and capital cities of global empires and all the history and trimmings that come with it. We....had the railroads and stockyards. Look, i love Chicago as much as anyone , but get real.

[OrdoSeclorum]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

Kinshasa?

No kidding, that was in the back of my mind as I typed. I decided that there's probably more interesting cultural stuff going on in Congo and that's easier to walk.