Cool Cleveland's CIO gets some answers, has more questions

On Tue 11/29 at the Cleveland City Club, friends, family and supporters of Cleveland Brain Gain will celebrate the launch of their website and premiere the recently completed marketing video with a private party. I met Cleveland Brain Gain's executive director Madeleine Bruml at Cool Cleveland's Party with the Champions. Over coffee, she gave me a sneak preview of the video (which, in my opinion, blows the Believe in Cleveland campaign away) as we discussed her project.

George Nemeth: "Describe what you're trying to do with Cleveland Brain Gain."

Madeleine Bruml: "Cleveland Brain Gain is essentially a marketing program to market the region to high school students because there are so many students that are unfamiliar with what the region has to offer. Brain Gain seeks to change their negative perception of the region and show them what's here before they go to college so they have more incentive to return here after college. It consists of a promotional video and that will be presented to local high school assemblies to drive traffic to the website, which is a hub of information about Cleveland entertainment, culture, recreation. Glazen Creative did the video, ThunderTech is doing my marketing..."

Let me interject here. In the interest of full disclosure, Jason Therrien of ThunderTech is a personal friend. Back to the interview.

MB: "Cleveland Bridge Builders is my fiscal agent."

GN: "They're your fiscal agent because you got the grant from the Civic Innovation Lab?"

MB: "Actually, it happened the other way around. I had the idea last September and talked to a family friend who's a lawyer. He introduced me to Laura Stienbrink. We talked and she loved the idea, but I couldn't do anything without a 501C-3, so she extended Bridge Builders' 501C-3 and she manages all my accounts. She introduced me to Jennifer Thomas. Before that, I had gotten grants from Ohio Savings, JoAnn, and Pepco. Now we have Hyland Software. They underwrote some of the video."

GN: "Let me go back to the structure - or lack of - your organization. You're not a 501C-3? You don't have a board?"

MB: "The 501C-3 is just for tax purposes. It is a non-profit, but under Bridge Builders. Laura helps me with the budget. She handles all the invoices. I can't sign any contracts until I'm eighteen. They give me free reign on everything."

GN: "You've got all this marketing material that's going out to high schools. Who's taking it out there? Are you dropping it in the mail? Are you the one going out and talking to people?"

MB: "The message is most effective when it's from one high school student to another, hopefully we'll be working with Look Up to Cleveland. Are you familiar with them?"

GN: "No."

MB: "It's an intense program for juniors, where they take a group every month and for an entire day, they immerse the student in Cleveland. So there's 52 students that are highly passionate about the city. They'll be taking the marketing material into their schools and speaking about their experiences, why they love the city, and presenting the video to their classmates. I'll help with the organization, but there'll be a student representative in each school."

GN: "What's your vision for what happens at the website?"

MB: "Ultimately, I want it showing students there is stuff going on downtown. My friends say 'People don't live downtown'. Of course people live downtown! I also want to highlight all the entrepreneurial resources there. Hopefully, students with entrepreneurial drive will recognize there's resources, so that after they graduate from college, they'll know that Cleveland is the place to start their business. Maybe then, they'll come back, create jobs, and strengthen the region.

GN: How many people do you know that are in college or going off to college that are thinking about this? Basically, you just described what your own experience is going to be. You're in high school now. Have you picked out a college yet?

MB: [Laughs] "No. I haven't even started looking..."

GN: So that's my question. Are you thinking about going away to college, then coming back?

MB: "With all the relationships I've created thru this program, it'd be crazy not to come back! I've met so many people here, they've been so willing to help. I love the city, I want to live downtown. If Scott Wolstein pulls off the new flats project, that's where I want to live."

GN: "What is it about Cleveland that you like?"

MB: "Two years ago, I was creating a database of high-growth entrepreneurial companies for my dad's company and I recognized there was so much going on downtown. Before that, I was the first person to move to NYC. I was ready to go and buy my brownstone, but after this research, I took a step back and said whoa, there's a lot of stuff goin' on. There's so much energy downtown, but you'd never know it unless you're down there. I love the restaurants, I love the quality of life. When I grow up and come back, I know the cost of living here is a third of what it is in NYC."

GN: "So, you're saying that Cleveland isn't as vibrant as other cities you've been to?"

MB: "No. I think it's as vibrant as other cities. It has more cultural gems, they're just hidden. They're not as obvious as they are in NYC and Chicago. We've got Playhouse Square, the second largest theater district outside of NYC. University Circle is one-of-a-kind. There's no other place that has that many cultural institutions in a compact area. Cleveland offers the same stuff as NYC, only it's not as obvious. By presenting them to high school students, in this way, by pushing it in their faces, they'll see that we have this stuff."

GN: "Are you saying you have to push it in their faces?"

MB: "In NYC, it's obvious. Everyone knows what's there. Take restaurants. Go out and have dinner at Great Lakes Brewing Company. I love Great Lakes Brewing Company. Have dinner at House of Blues, Pickwick and Frolic, but everyone stays at Legacy Village or Crocker Park. It's time to bring people downtown."

GN: "Why do people stay at Legacy Village or Crocker Park?"

MB: "I think it's an effect of urban sprawl. Downtown is not a huge hub for families. Families go to Legacy Village or Crocker Park. Young professionals are downtown in the Warehouse District. It's perception. If students know there's cool things downtown, they'll go there."

GN: "How many of your friends do stuff downtown?"

MB: [Laughing] "When I started this program, none of them did. This summer, when I was working downtown at iCleveland, my friends would go out to lunch down to the House of Blues or a cafe, they'd be like 'Oh, downtown is looking nice.' Of course it is."

GN: "It's very much an acclimation. Until you know someone downtown and you go and visit them while they're working or visit them living downtown, you don't know what's going on."

MB: "I toured a few lofts over the summer. I thought they were awesome. The views were great. They were conveniently located between Jacobs Field and the Wolstein Center.

Reflecting on my conversation with Madeleine, I've got some questions for Cool Cleveland readers. When was the last time you took someone you know downtown? Have you ever seen a loft apartment downtown? What's keeping you from moving downtown? Where would you have lunch downtown? Do you know a high school student? Would they be interested in this program? Would you introduce them to it?

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