About
RAW began in 2015 as a series of photo walks for Detroit’s creatives. Ten years later it is a media platform with an audience of more than 245,000 people and a full-service marketing agency trusted by developers, venues and national brands.
Shawn Mangenje moved to Detroit from the UK in 2015 with a camera and a conviction that the city was too often shown in the wrong light. He started hosting workshops and photo walks for local creatives, and a community formed around them. That community grew into one of Detroit’s largest independent media audiences.
Paige Pope joined in 2019 and turned the audience into a business. Today our channels reach about 46 million views a year across Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, and roughly 60% of that audience lives in Metro Detroit.
RAW Digital Group is where we do that same work for clients. The crew that covers Detroit every day also flies the drone over your development, lights your dining room, cuts your launch video and puts it in front of the people you want to reach.
Most agencies learn what works from other people’s results. We learn it from our own channels, every day, in this market. When we recommend a format, a posting time or a hook, we have usually tested it on our own channels first. And when a campaign needs reach, we can put it on a platform Detroiters already follow.
Leadership
You work directly with the founders. No hand-off to a junior account team after the pitch.
A photographer who moved from the UK to Detroit in 2015 and started RAW as a series of photo walks and workshops for the city’s creatives. Shawn leads creative direction, directs shoots and still shoots much of the photography RAW is known for.
A Michigan native and Central Michigan University graduate who joined the company in 2019. Paige runs strategy, client growth and the systems behind our audience, bringing six years in multimedia and a background building and running her own ventures.
The crew
Our early photo walks introduced us to the city’s best image-makers. Many of them are now our crew.
Commercial pilots flying under FAA Part 107 for aerial stills, cinematic video and FPV fly-throughs.
People who can run a commercial set and also know how to shoot a vertical clip that holds attention.
Food, interiors, architecture, product, events and people. Matched to the job, not assigned by availability.
Cutting for each platform, with color and sound finished to the spec the placement requires.
Detroit creators we can cast for campaigns, with disclosure and usage rights handled in writing.
Studio
Our studio is at 2200 Hunt St in Detroit, near Eastern Market. We shoot across Metro Detroit and travel across Michigan for projects.
Tell us what you are working on. We reply within one business day with next steps, a rough budget range and the right people for the job.
Start a project