I’m on a flight to Singapore as I write this article.  I’m going about as far away as you can get from Cincinnati.  Somehow it seems vaguely appropriate at this time to reflect on my relationship with Cincinnati (24 hours in the air can make anything seem profound).

I am a native son, a product of the working class parishes of the west side.  At a young age, I was a restless searcher, I suppose, and found a need for both artistic expression and travel.  I picked up a degree in design at UC.  My travels started with a backpack, relying on my thumb or a Eurail Pass to get me to my next destination.  Today, I find myself sitting in this tony seat, on an airplane headed for the other side of the world.  (Yes, ma’am, I believe I will have another chardonnay.)

So, my restlessness has served me well.  I’ve built a great career based on some fundamental passions I discovered early.  Importantly, my travels have given me a dose of something that seems to be in very short supply in Cincinnati – perspective.

Singapore is a fascinating place to visit. It is described by some as “Asia light,” pristine and modern with just a touch of Little India, Chinatown, and Malay life, all thriving side by side in this tiny city-state of three million. Singapore is different than Cincinnati in almost every way imaginable.  It’s fun to spend a moment thinking about the Singapore story and then reflect on our hometown.  Lee Kuan Yew took hold of a desperately poor city-state that was badly served in turn by the British, the Japanese and the Malay Federation.  He turned this backward city into one of the most remarkable places on earth, all within the time frame of one generation.  Benevolent dictators can make things happen fast.

Singapore has developed a certain arrogance; Singaporeans are noted for their self-confidence, bordering on boastfulness.  But even they are a bit edgy today, as they think about their place in the evolving global economy.  They are looking to new ideas, like design, to be an engine for growth in the worldwide creative economy that’s unfolding.  What got them there, won’t keep them there, and they know it.  And by the way, Singapore, for all of its success, is described by some as the most crushingly dull place in Asia.

My thoughts then turn to Cincinnati; a city with a remarkable history – beautiful topography, great architecture, great parks and an impressive art scene.  In the 19th Century, Cincinnati was something of a Singapore; big, brassy, inventive and confident – a must see on the world tour of the likes of Charles Dickens and Oscar Wilde. 
Not all that long ago, we still maintained an unbearable sense of our superiority.  We were the first large city that wasn’t on the East Coast.  Even in my lifetime, we were the only city worth mentioning between Chicago and the East.  Upstarts like Atlanta, Charlotte, and certainly our neighbors, Indianapolis and Columbus, were not even worthy of consideration.

It seems almost in an instant everything changed.  Other cities passed us by.  A surge of cynicism developed and a precipitous drop in our self-esteem enveloped us.  Soon, we were scrambling to outdo one another in finding new ways to insult our town.  It makes we wonder whether Singapore, as it adjusts to a changing world, could find itself on the wrong side of self image in a relatively short amount of time.  It seems preposterous but then I never thought it could happen here.

Of much more interest to me, however, is the recent return toward confidence in our city. Urban living is cool again and Cincinnati is once again in its ascendancy.  Yes, there are still vestiges of the negative thinking out there, but those opinions are increasingly the uninformed remnants of old stories.

Let’s Get Spiky

Richard Florida in his latest book, Who's Your City, challenges the basic assumption of Thomas Freedman in his book, The World is Flat.  Freedman argues that technology has made the world flat; globalization spreads out economic activity.  As Freedman writes, “You can innovate without having to immigrate.” 

“Not so fast,” says Florida.  “The world isn’t flat.” 

Yes, the spread of routine economic functions; such as, simple manufacturing or service work, can be done in a more cost-effective way in low cost countries.  But, other high-level activities; such as, innovation, design, finance, and media are clustering in a relatively small number of locations.  The world is not flat; in fact, the world is a bit spiky.  These spikes create their own eco systems of leading edge universities, high-powered companies, flexible labor markets, and venture capital.  The world is full of spiky peaks and valleys.  People in the spiky places are often more connected with others, even from halfway around the world, than they are to people and places in their own back yards.  That could explain why I’m flying halfway around the world to lecture at a Singapore Design Council Conference.  Florida writes that, “Peak to peak connectivity is, in fact, accelerating by a highly mobile creative class of about 150 million people world-wide.”

This type of thinking makes us reflect on our outlook for Cincinnati.  The struggle between the innovative talent attracting “have regions” and the talent exporting “have not regions” is escalating.  Florida and others suggest that talent clustering is a primary determinate of economic growth.  When people, especially talented and creative ones, come together, ideas flow more freely.  Clustering makes each of us more productive, which in turn, makes the place we inhabit even more so.  This is called the clustering force.

That is why the Regional Chamber is focused on young professionals.  Harnessing young professional energy (H.Y.P.E.) is a good place for the Chamber to focus.  Young professionals bring energy, creativity and stamina to the work of community building.  Cincinnati will be more fun, more tolerant, more diverse and more prosperous as we create an environment that serves the ambitions of YPs.  We are on our way.  We have far to go.  Let’s enjoy the journey. 

Watch your back Singapore!

As noted in my previous post, the Design Management Institute will hold its 2008 International Brand Design Conference in Cincinnati this June.  This is particularly appropriate when you consider that it was in Cincinnati over 70 years ago that Neil McElroy of Procter & Gamble penned his famous memo that changed marketing worldwide forever by inventing brand management.  Most branded enterprises in the world now organize their business along some version of the brand management vision invented here.

Today, Cincinnati, of course, is home to the world’s largest consumer goods company, Procter & Gamble.  It is headquarters for Macy’s, the world’s largest department store company and Kroger, the world’s largest supermarket chain.  Another of the world’s top bananas, Chiquita, can be found in the heart of our city.  It is indeed a city of brands.

What is less well known, perhaps, is that Cincinnati has emerged as one of the world’s top centers for advanced brand design.  WPP’s Landor has a large office in Cincinnati.  Omnicom’s Interbrand has a large office here as well.  Major independent shops: BRANDIMAGE – Desgrippes & laga, Deskey, Fisher, FRCH, and my company, LPK, are headquartered here.  Other cities have reputations for finance, publishing or music. When it comes to brand building by design, Cincinnati has assembled a unique collection of large, successful brand design agencies.

Design, as a brand-building tool, is in its ascendancy.  Brand aesthetics must be managed strategically today.  Leading brands understand that brand design management is not a one-time project, but an ongoing process.  A brand’s design franchise serves as a repository for the goodwill assigned to a brand over time.  That goodwill comes from the experience that a consumer has using the brand, of course, as well as the investment in advertising, public relations and other communication.  But, it is a brand’s design (logo, composition, color, etc.) that triggers those imbedded memories.  Design equity is a powerful contributor to brand equity.

The city’s advanced brand design agencies today are not only supporting the great brands based in Cincinnati, but are consulting with leading companies worldwide.  Indeed, a walk down any supermarket anywhere in the world presents brand design born or burnished in this city.

Cincinnati brand design agencies have achieved a scale unmatched in other regions.  Because of the size of these agencies, they are equipped to undertake assignments that involve a degree of complexity and geographic reach that smaller agencies cannot successfully manage.  These large agencies are recruiting the best and brightest from design schools across America and beyond, further ensuring the ascent of the region’s reputation for brand design leadership.  Economists call this phenomenon an agglomeration.

Education is also part of the Cincinnati advanced brand design story.  A number of strong design programs are found in the area.  Of special note, the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning is regularly ranked as one of the world’s top design schools.  The Co-operative Education Program at the University of Cincinnati has placed students in the ranks of design leadership of many of the world’s most successful companies.

Importantly, the University of Cincinnati has opened the Center for Design Research and Innovation at DAAP under the leadership of Craig Vogel, an internationally recognized author and scholar.  The Center is coordinating interdisciplinary programs involving medicine, engineering, business and other colleges, forming design-led innovation studios with Fortune 500 corporate sponsors from around the country.

Conventions in many areas of brand building are under review.  Digital advertising is quickly replacing legacy advertising (it’s real this time, just read the rants of Sir Martin Sorrell or Maurice Levy).  One area of brand building that will remain vital is design.  And for an increasing number of leading brands, Cincinnati is the destination for brand building – by design.

This is good news for the area.  It helps keep Cincinnati competitive by having a unique creative class story unmatched in other regions.  In a world that seems to have developed a brand fetish – politicians, celebrities and even cities are now described as brands – Cincinnati has caught a wave.  Let’s enjoy the ride. 

In my previous post, I talked about perspective and the fact that there seems to be an absence of objectivity amongst the locals when describing our city.  I want to take another pass at perspective.  This time, I want to develop an imaginary tale of a business visitor to our fair city and what his/her experience might be.  How would that experience measure up to other destinations?

My business travels have taken me lots of places.  In my consulting work, I’ve been to many of the glamorous, over-crowded capital cities of the world.  I have also traveled down muggy dirt roads in the Mississippi heat, and felt the sting of the winter wind as I parked my car in the middle of nowhere in Western Michigan. The dull toil of commerce brings you to quite a range of places.  Like many a business traveler, I feel like I’ve seen it all.  I have been pleasantly surprised by some of the places I’ve visited.  In other cases, I walked back onto the plane scratching my head saying, “I don’t get it.  Why does this place have such a great reputation?”  Preconceived notions lead to disappointment or delight, depending on your perspective.  I suspect my experience is typical.
Now imagine a business traveler coming to Cincinnati.  I am in fact serving as co-chair for a conference that will be held in Cincinnati in June.  The Design Management Institute is holding their annual International Branding Conference in Cincinnati.  The attendees are mid-career types.  Most of them have large departments reporting to them.  They run the design functions in places like BMW or IBM.  Alternatively, they may be a manager in one of the large brand design consultancies located in the United States, Europe or Asia.  This conference has taken them to places like Vancouver, Chicago and Montreal in recent years. These are well-traveled folks.  I’ll write more in my next piece about branding and the unique concentration of brand design expertise in Cincinnati.  In this post, however, I want to focus on that imaginary visit to Cincinnati.

First of all, the pilot announces that you’ve just landed - in Kentucky. There’s a momentary panic where you think you walked onto the wrong plane back in your embarkation city. You then get into a cab. The cab ride is a bit creepy, but then that’s pretty much the norm everywhere, unless you are coming from Britain or Japan where the standards are quite good.  In other words, your expectations are pretty low for the cab experience.  If you are lucky, you don’t have to indulge in some sort of tedious conversation with the driver on a topic that has no interest whatsoever to you.

You arrive at the Netherland Hilton in Downtown Cincinnati (that’s where the DMI Conference will be held).  You are pleasantly surprised by the elegance of the art deco architecture.  You walk into the lobby, take a peek into the restaurant, and by now are feeling quite good.   This is a world-class hotel and you’re soaking in the beauty of the place.  It’s an afternoon in late spring.  The weather is temperate and there are flowers everywhere.  In the lobby, you bump into a fellow member of the Design Management Institute and you agree to spend the afternoon and evening together.  The conference sessions will actually begin the following morning.

You turn to the concierge and ask for some tips on food and things to do.  You’re delighted by the variety of restaurant choices – everything from a French bistro to a brewery pub.  Because you are a designer, you ask about museums and galleries.  You are astonished to learn that you can walk to six or eight museums and galleries from your hotel.

As a seasoned traveler, you can’t remember the last time you had so many choices available to you without the complexities of jumping on a train or getting into another one of those creepy cabs.

You particularly enjoy house museums and so you elect to head to the Taft Museum of Art (the concierge begs you to also see the Contemporary Arts Center and the fabulous Zaha Hadid design while you are in town).  The Taft is a delight – a lovely important American building housing a great collection of art.  Your colleague is a bit of a baseball nut and convinces you to stop at the Reds Museum on your way back from the Taft.  You find out that Cincinnati had the first professional baseball team – who knew?   The museum is a celebration of America’s great summer sport.  You see the Pete Rose exhibit and are reminded that Pete hit a lot of balls (and had a lot of balls).  By now you are a bit tired and the thought at stopping at the Freedom Center causes you some hesitation.  Your friend has more energy than you, and you decide to go for it.  You walk inside, not sure what to expect. 
Once again, you are dazzled by your environment.  You are forced to confront America’s original sin – the African slave trade in a setting of great beauty and gravitas.  You learn some things about what life was like for the victims of this barbaric institution.  You are surprised to learn the economic scale of American slavery in the 19th century.  You then learn a bit about human trafficking today.  Most painfully, you realize that this issue is bigger today than at any other time in history.  You are moved and, in an odd way, rejuvenated by this jolt to your sensibilities.

You head back toward the hotel.  You stop at the French Bistro the concierge recommended.  You find it authentic and welcoming and have a delightful meal.  (You remind yourself that you’ve got to get back to Paris again.)  The sights and the sounds of the fountain beckon you.  You notice the Graeter’s Ice Cream store.  Your talkative concierge told you that Oprah Winfrey claims this is her favorite ice cream.  You are required to give it a try.  You sit near the fountain watching the ambiance of city life.  It is a thoroughly cosmopolitan experience.  You weren’t expecting to be delighted.  You came to this city not sure what to expect.  Your friend confesses that he thought he was going to Cleveland.  He hadn’t read his itinerary carefully.

You head back to the hotel.  You are tired but look forward to the conference sessions and the networking that will begin in the morning.  You agree to meet your colleague for a run along the river in the morning before the sessions begin.  You are given a running map that will send you along a scenic path to a great urban park on the river.

It happens here every day.

Stories like this occur every day in Cincinnati.  Some of the most famous cities on Earth are not necessarily great business trip destinations.  I recall going to a conference in Vancouver.  I was elated at the thought of spending time in what everyone says is one of the great cities of North America.  When I landed, the physical beauty of the city was not to be denied; the water and the mountains are breathtaking.  The downtown, however, is a bit dull.  There aren’t a lot of good restaurant choices.  There are no museums or galleries that come close to the quality that is available in Cincinnati.

Business travelers bring a different set of expectations with them.  They are not tourists.  They have been lots of places and are generally open-minded about any city they visit.  Cities delight or disappoint these travelers every day. 

Cincinnati is fully capable of delighting a business visitor.  If a visitor has the ambition and time to explore further, the Museum Center and the Cincinnati Art Museum are world-class destinations.  The encyclopedic collection housed at the Cincinnati Art Museum is a rare find anywhere in the world.  Of course, Mount Adams, Northern Kentucky, and a list of other places, are also great discoveries for a visitor. 

Cities talk a lot about quality of life, and they should.  But it is interesting to ponder for a moment what the quality of a visit entails.  We look pretty good in Cincinnati. 

I’m on a flight to Singapore as I write this article.  I’m going about as far away as you can get from Cincinnati.  Somehow it seems vaguely appropriate at this time to reflect on my relationship with Cincinnati (24 hours in the air can make anything seem profound).

I am a native son, a product of the working class parishes of the west side.  At a young age, I was a restless searcher, I suppose, and found a need for both artistic expression and travel.  I picked up a degree in design at UC.  My travels started with a backpack, relying on my thumb or a Eurail Pass to get me to my next destination.  Today, I find myself sitting in this tony seat, on an airplane headed for the other side of the world.  (Yes, ma’am, I believe I will have another chardonnay.)

So, my restlessness has served me well.  I’ve built a great career based on some fundamental passions I discovered early.  Importantly, my travels have given me a dose of something that seems to be in very short supply in Cincinnati – perspective.

Singapore is a fascinating place to visit. It is described by some as “Asia light,” pristine and modern with just a touch of Little India, Chinatown, and Malay life, all thriving side by side in this tiny city-state of three million. Singapore is different than Cincinnati in almost every way imaginable.  It’s fun to spend a moment thinking about the Singapore story and then reflect on our hometown.  Lee Kuan Yew took hold of a desperately poor city-state that was badly served in turn by the British, the Japanese and the Malay Federation.  He turned this backward city into one of the most remarkable places on earth, all within the time frame of one generation.  Benevolent dictators can make things happen fast.

Singapore has developed a certain arrogance; Singaporeans are noted for their self-confidence, bordering on boastfulness.  But even they are a bit edgy today, as they think about their place in the evolving global economy.  They are looking to new ideas, like design, to be an engine for growth in the worldwide creative economy that’s unfolding.  What got them there, won’t keep them there, and they know it.  And by the way, Singapore, for all of its success, is described by some as the most crushingly dull place in Asia.

My thoughts then turn to Cincinnati; a city with a remarkable history – beautiful topography, great architecture, great parks and an impressive art scene.  In the 19th Century, Cincinnati was something of a Singapore; big, brassy, inventive and confident – a must see on the world tour of the likes of Charles Dickens and Oscar Wilde. 
Not all that long ago, we still maintained an unbearable sense of our superiority.  We were the first large city that wasn’t on the East Coast.  Even in my lifetime, we were the only city worth mentioning between Chicago and the East.  Upstarts like Atlanta, Charlotte, and certainly our neighbors, Indianapolis and Columbus, were not even worthy of consideration.

It seems almost in an instant everything changed.  Other cities passed us by.  A surge of cynicism developed and a precipitous drop in our self-esteem enveloped us.  Soon, we were scrambling to outdo one another in finding new ways to insult our town.  It makes we wonder whether Singapore, as it adjusts to a changing world, could find itself on the wrong side of self image in a relatively short amount of time.  It seems preposterous but then I never thought it could happen here.

Of much more interest to me, however, is the recent return toward confidence in our city. Urban living is cool again and Cincinnati is once again in its ascendancy.  Yes, there are still vestiges of the negative thinking out there, but those opinions are increasingly the uninformed remnants of old stories.

Let’s Get Spiky

Richard Florida in his latest book, Who's Your City, challenges the basic assumption of Thomas Freedman in his book, The World is Flat.  Freedman argues that technology has made the world flat; globalization spreads out economic activity.  As Freedman writes, “You can innovate without having to immigrate.” 

“Not so fast,” says Florida.  “The world isn’t flat.” 

Yes, the spread of routine economic functions; such as, simple manufacturing or service work, can be done in a more cost-effective way in low cost countries.  But, other high-level activities; such as, innovation, design, finance, and media are clustering in a relatively small number of locations.  The world is not flat; in fact, the world is a bit spiky.  These spikes create their own eco systems of leading edge universities, high-powered companies, flexible labor markets, and venture capital.  The world is full of spiky peaks and valleys.  People in the spiky places are often more connected with others, even from halfway around the world, than they are to people and places in their own back yards.  That could explain why I’m flying halfway around the world to lecture at a Singapore Design Council Conference.  Florida writes that, “Peak to peak connectivity is, in fact, accelerating by a highly mobile creative class of about 150 million people world-wide.”

This type of thinking makes us reflect on our outlook for Cincinnati.  The struggle between the innovative talent attracting “have regions” and the talent exporting “have not regions” is escalating.  Florida and others suggest that talent clustering is a primary determinate of economic growth.  When people, especially talented and creative ones, come together, ideas flow more freely.  Clustering makes each of us more productive, which in turn, makes the place we inhabit even more so.  This is called the clustering force.

That is why the Regional Chamber is focused on young professionals.  Harnessing young professional energy (H.Y.P.E.) is a good place for the Chamber to focus.  Young professionals bring energy, creativity and stamina to the work of community building.  Cincinnati will be more fun, more tolerant, more diverse and more prosperous as we create an environment that serves the ambitions of YPs.  We are on our way.  We have far to go.  Let’s enjoy the journey. 

Watch your back Singapore!