We'll see and hear more of a new Lions slogan -- One Detroit, One Pride -- as the team tries to, yes, lift a weary city's spirits.
Team president Tom Lewand talks to Free Press columnist Tom Walsh about the tagline introduced last month.
It's "an expression of our feelings about about what it means to be a Detroiter in tough times . . . looking at this as an opportunity for anyone who is a Detroiter to embrace the community,” Lewand tells the business writer.
Since the tagline first appeared last month, the Lions have used it during public days at the team’s Allen Park training camp and will soon be deploying it in a multipronged effort to support economic development projects, along with health and wellness initiatives around the city.
Lions players and alumni joined an "Avenue of Fashion" cleanup on Liovernois in May. They pose with Vittoria Katanski, executive director of Hatch Detroit, and Rufus Bartell (white shirt), owner of Simply Casual.
Though the phrase was developed before Detroit's bankruptcy filing July 18, that action spurred a quick play.
Three days later, the tagline “One Detroit, One Pride” made its public debut in the center of a full-page advertisement in the Sunday Detroit Free Press, with only a photo of the Detroit skyline as a backdrop and the blue Lions logo at the bottom of the page.
Lewand explains: "There was a strong feeling on our part that we needed to pull that idea ahead, instead of waiting for training camp or the regular season to roll that out."
Now it will be part of the Lions’ partnership with Hatch Detroit to boost retail storefront development in six Detroit neighborhoods, starting with the “Avenue of Fashion” on Livernois.
Businesses in each area will get an “extreme Hatch makeover,” including new signage, lighting, window displays and the like — and involving Lions players, fans and alumni as volunteers.
