Detroit Cadillac Rock City
Did you know that the famous rock band KISS visited Cadillac, a small town in Northern Michigan, 50 years ago this October? They didn’t just come to Cadillac for a quick “visit”—they came to play a homecoming concert for the high school football team. You can read all about their visit on the Cadillac website: Cadillac Loves KISS
I wasn’t here 50 years ago, but I can attest that people who were still get excited reminiscing about KISS’s time in Cadillac. My husband was barely six years old and still remembers his sisters painting his face and taking him to the HOCO parade. Locals like him are sharing their “where we were when KISS came to Cadillac” stories—their KISStory, if you will. I’m sorry to say that I didn’t come up with the term KISStory, but isn’t it AMAZING?!? People are traveling from near and far to join in the excitement. They’re sharing memorabilia, snapping pictures next to the KISS monument, visiting the special museum exhibit, and enjoying KISS-themed products and displays created by local businesses. This golden anniversary has everyone buzzing—even those of us who weren’t around 50 years ago. That includes me.
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The KISStory Bandwagon
I’m a marketing teacher at the Wexford-Missaukee Career Technical Center in Cadillac, MI. Not all of my students live in Cadillac, and not all attend Cadillac Senior High School. However, what kind of marketing teacher would I be if we didn’t jump on the KISStory bandwagon and create a project tied to this momentous occasion?
So, I put together a spur-of-the-moment project—sometimes those are the best ones. Taking a current event that’s relevant to students and giving them a role to play in it makes the lesson more meaningful and exciting.
Our program operates a school store that serves 600+ students every day. The student-run store gives them hands-on experience with purchasing, inventory, finance, customer service, promotions, and human resources.
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Bringing Kisstory into the classroom
For this project, students learned a bit about the backstory of KISS in Cadillac. We talked about how incredible it was that a New York-based rock band came to our small town 50 years ago. Then I divided students into groups of 3–4 and tasked them with designing a KISS-themed store window, just like the displays going up in our downtown shops. Since it’s only our first week of school, we also reviewed what makes a good window display. This wasn’t just about KISS—it was also about promoting items we already sell or introducing new products that would tie into the theme.
The students took the ball and ran with it. They came up with creative designs, product ideas, promotional strategies, and even potential collaborations with other school programs to build customer excitement for the KISS anniversary.
Only one group will ultimately be chosen to create the window display. I can’t wait to see the students’ final proposals and hear their pitches. We’re also inviting community members to speak with students about the lasting importance of the KISS legacy, and I’ve planned a downtown field trip so they can compare and contrast their own concepts with the professional displays.
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This project just keeps growing
Today, we spent class time working on proposals, which even led to a temporary redesign of our program’s brand mark and a new tagline for the year. Forty-five students weighing in on how to make our exploding logo feel more rock and roll was both chaotic and fun—and the finished product turned out great.
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Inspiration for teachers and business owners
If you’re a marketing or business teacher, I offer this as inspiration. Feel free to adapt the idea to your own local story. If you’re a business owner, I share this because there are so many students who dream of running their own business someday—and teachers like me who would love to collaborate with you. There’s no better way to learn than through a hands-on, real-world project.
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Here are some fun KISS props my students have found on Amazon. I already have a KISS Poptater in my shopping cart!!!
If you click on a link and make a purchase, as an Amazon Associate, I may earn a commission from qualifying purchases.
Hive & Seek 
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