On this week's program, host Phil Tower welcomes Michelle Grinnell, Senior Vice President, Marketing and communications, for the MEDC( Michigan Economic Development Corporation). Michelle gave an overview of a new $20 million ad campaign with a specific goal of attracting talent to Michigan to fill jobs and grow Michigan's stagnant population. The new "You Can in Michigan" campaign will include TV, radio, print, and social media advertising and a new website that will help visitors calculate the cost of living and job opportunities through an AI-generated platform. The campaign is designed to target Michigan's border states and 12 key markets that include New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Atlanta, Raleigh-Durham, and Austin. You can see that very innovative, calculator at this link: themichiganlife.org

In part two of this week's show, Phil welcomes Karl Brauer, Executive Analyst with iSeeCars. A recent study by iSeeCars(iseecars.com) found that the same budget that allowed consumers to buy a 3-year-old car in 2019 will only buy a 6- to 10-year-old version of the same model today. The scarcity of new cars from 2020 to 2022 has translated into scarce used cars on the market now, forcing buyers to purchase models over twice as old for the same price. iSeeCars analyzed over 21 million used cars sold to identify the cost of 3-year-old models in 2019 and determine what age car that same budget buys now in Grand Rapids. Karl shared that in the Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-Battle Creek market, the price changes noted were:

• In 2019 a 3-year-old Dodge Dart cost $11,822, but in 2023 the cost of an older 8-year-old Dodge Dart is $11,879.
• The average cost of a 3-year-old car in Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-Battle Creek, MI was $22,189 in 2019, but it’s $31,892 in 2023 – a change of 43.7%.

See the study here: Pandemic Hangover Forces Used Car Shoppers To Buy Much Older Cars