Detroit’s Total Visionary; Tony Hammond

This article is about Tony Hammond.

Sometimes our path in life is premeditated, planned out and executed to perfection. But other times our path is destined by one decision you made along the way.

The latter is not unique, but it is curious how one moment can change someone trajectory in life. This is the story of Tony Hammond, creator of Total Vision Enterprise, a digital advertising agency in Downtown Detroit.

A Detroiter by birth

Tony was born in Detroit and raised in Detroit by adoptive parents. Until age 6 when his family felt it better to look for opportunities outside of Michigan. At that time his family found a new home in Jacksonville, North Carolina, 700 miles away.

Being that young it’s hard for Tony to remember much about his experience in Detroit. For the majority of his life, North Carolina was all he knew.

From Dropout to Graduate

Mr. Hammond graduated high school and went on to college where he first majored in partying. As one does. Eventually leading him to drop out.

It was at this time that Myspace and Facebook were becoming popular with college students. Using Social media Tony found himself leveraging these platforms to sell clothing. Using the college connections and relationships at other schools to his benefit.

You could say that Tony was one of the first social media influencers. Despite this, Tony channeled inspiration from his mother, an English teacher, to go back to school and earn his degree. To him, it was unfinished business. With the influence and a degree, it was an unstoppable combination.

Eventually, Tony graduated College with an English Literature and Communications degree. With a degree in-hand, he didn’t stop selling merch on social media.

Influencer turned Professional

Over time making a name for himself in the early days of social media, Tony amassed a huge following on Myspace, Facebook and eventually Pinterest. From here, marketing and advertising companies reached out to him with opportunities to grow and learn the business at scale. This was something completely unexpected and taking these opportunities seriously was a huge risk.

See most of the offers coming in were geared toward commission-based compensation. The contracts were worth $10,000-$15,000, Tony would make 33% on the gross total. As a young entrepreneur these numbers looked like real opportunity.

Eventually, Tony landed one of these gigs with great contract terms, at T2 Advertising International. Working with Fortune 500 companies, onboarding and implementing advertising for these companies. This was the first taste of taking what Tony learn organically selling merch on social media, to learn the technical aspects of what the ‘big boys’ expect out of the early days of online marketing.

Over time, Tony became a master at closing clients for T2 Advertising and like all hungry young entrepreneurs a certain level of discontentment began swelling in his heart. A yearning for more.

Back to his roots

This discontentment was rooted in the confidence gained in the professional ecosystem. That environment polishing his abilities that he once forged on his own. With this discontentment, a belief emerged that he could again trek out on his own and make a name for himself.

At this time, around 2015, both Tony and his father started to see all of the positive PR in the news about Detroit. A comeback city. For Tony, the idea of a comeback city was more than just the revitalization of what once way. For Tony, the idea of a comeback city, was a journey coming back to the place he was born.

Since 2016 Tony Hammond has been proud to call himself a Detroiter.

A Total Vision

On his way up to Detroit, during the 700-mile drive, Tony – an avid daydreamer, imagined the impact that he could have on local businesses in and around Detroit. Arguably one of the most underserved metropolitan areas in the world when it comes to advertising and marketing acumen. Tony was ready for this.

Setting up shop when he come to Detroit, he found himself in a unique position, building relationships with building owners in downtown Detroit. Through building relationships Tony was able to open up his Ad Agency in the heart of the Finance District of downtown Detroit.

Now residing in one of downtown Detroit most iconic buildings and prime real estate in the old Bankers Trust building. It’s here that Tony is living out his dream.

Detroit’s Business Community

Talking with Tony Hammond about the Detroit advertising community you quickly understand that he is passionate about what he does here.

“Look, Detroit is made up of cliques of people that, even before I got here, they were the go-to individuals and agencies that would get hired for Advertising. But when you hire the same people and expect them to provide you with different results you end up with a Detroit business ecosystem that is ultimately chasing its own tail.”

Highlighting some of the positives of Detroit business owners, Tony says that, “Most of Detroit entrepreneurs are massively ambitious, and willing to put in the work. This work ethic isn’t something you see in North Carolina. Detroit is the only place where you’ll see the owner working just as hard as their employees. I love that mindset.”

The mindset of Detroit business owners is in the right place. Yet highlighting some of the drawbacks of working with Detroit area businesses, Tony acknowledges that, “It’s difficult to turn business away when you can tell that someone really wants to be successful at what they do. When the requirements to achieve their goals and the cost to advertise effectively at the highest level is lay out in front of them, most Detroit area businesses shy away and want to find means to cut corners… I just can’t do that.”

Asking a follow up question about why he thinks Detroit businesses are like that, Tony elaborated saying, “At the end of the day people in Detroit are sold on this idea that you can do things half-ass, or invest half of what is required to achieve the same results. This lie cost the business money and time, and only serves to benefit the agency the business hires or the individual marketeer they hire. So, if a business isn’t ready to hire someone like me, I feel its my ethical responsibility to turn them away.”

Advice for Businesses

With so many businesses looking to grow in the Detroit area we ask Tony what businesses should do so they can be ready to scale to that next level hiring a specialist for advertising and marketing.

“Covid taught me that Detroit businesses can learn new ways to operate and grow. Detroit businesses will succeed but they have to be willing to do things differently than they have been. This starts with having a mindset that is open to things outside of the norm. Not because you’re forced to, like in the time of the pandemic, but because it’s those pockets where you’ll find new vectors of opportunity.”

Pressing on this issue, we asked, what if a business owner doesn’t have the budget and doesn’t know how to do something different, what then?

“I have that conversation every day, and I don’t mind having a 1 on 1 conversation with anybody. In fact, if a business owner finds themselves in that situation, having that conversation with them provide us both an opportunity. I’ll give them free strategies that they can implement on their own without the need to hire me. Building trust and rapport with owners, provides them a road map. When they come back happy, they’re excited to see what I do to take them to another level. Relationships are easier this way. I’d argue that people who fall into that category are actually my favorite clients.”

Where can people find Tony?

Find Tony on Social Media, on Pinterest @TonyDisruptive, on instagram @thecloudpusher, and find Tony on Linkedin at Tony.

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