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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.