Motor City Alabama: How Foreign CarMakers Rebuilt the South (2003)
When Hyundai was preparing to open its first US manufacturing plant in Montgomery, Alabama in 2004, Carat Media was looking for alternative
ideas for promoting the launch than a traditional TV campaign: a marketing effort that would announce this milestone without chest-beating.
Our research uncovered two interesting phenomena: 1. a significant portion of the growth in the US auto industry came from foreign automakers
setting up domesticoperations; and 2. most of these plants were being established in the (non-union) South. As foreign auto manufacturers came
to town, the entire economic fortunes of these once-forgotten cities were turning around overnight.
Our solution was to shoot a full-length documentary with director Nanette Burstein (The Kid Stays in the Picture) highlighting this profound
shift in the US auto industry, essentially Roger & Me in reverse, the film highlights the rebirth of a depressed southern city around the building
of this new facility. In addition to entry at film festivals, the film could be cut to various lengths for broadcast, in-flight, online and movie theater trailers.
