Efforts are under way to make Cincinnati a world marketing hub
January 8, 2010
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The fledgling effort to position Cincinnati as a world center for consumer marketing has identified two dozen “implementation strategies” that would promote the region’s marketing strengths and accelerate the sharing of knowledge among local companies.
With that task done, organizer Rich Kiley is looking for volunteers to adopt each cause. They include a mentoring program, networking and training events, the development of research centers and trade groups and a project-oriented community involvement program modeled on Leadership Cincinnati.
Kiley has established an e-mail address, consumermarketingcenter@yahoo.com, to receive résumés and offers to help.
“I want 100 people by the end of January, 300 people by June and 1,000 people within three years,” he said.
Kiley is a former Procter & Gamble executive who once led the CincyTech USA growth initiative and has been a partner in the downtown-based Blue Chip Venture Co. since 2004. He adopted the consumer-marketing cause because he thinks it could have a transforming impact on the region – not only establishing a global reputation for the city but making all companies that operate here better at selling their products.
That’s why several of the new initiatives are geared toward helping smaller companies learn “leading edge” marketing techniques from the region’s largest marketers. They include an “In One Day” event where marketing pros develop a complete plan for a single company in a one-day session. Another strategy is to write up to 20 case studies per year that explain how Cincinnati firms used innovative approaches to grow revenue. A new marketing college would offer a one-week session to include training tips from P&G, Macy’s and Kroger.
“My job is to accelerate the sharing of knowledge,” he said. “What we can do in Cincinnati, you couldn’t do in New York. It’s too big. What we can do here is create an environment where that level of knowledge is accessible to everyone.”
Chamber grant paves way
Kiley got a $150,000 grant from the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber to develop the new marketing initiative. The idea came from the chamber's regional growth initiative, Agenda 360. He debuted the concept at the chamber’s fourth annual “Leadership Exchange” summit in October.
Within weeks, a team of about 18 to 20 volunteers came up with the 24 smaller initiatives, all aimed at boosting the level of local marketing talent and increasing awareness of those talents.
Among the heavy hitters who’ve agreed to participate in an advisory panel are Kroger Co. CEO David Dillon, Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. CEO Ken Lowe and John Smale, a former P&G CEO and General Motors Corp. chairman.
“This is a fabulous, well-timed idea,” said Pete Blackshaw, executive vice president of Nielsen Online Digital Services. “I’m certainly eager to roll up my sleeves and help in any way possible.”
The downtown-based package-design firm LPK has agreed to come up with a name and brand identity for Kiley’s group.Former Washington lobbyist Dale Louda is studying ways to establish a national marketing trade group in Cincinnati. One option would be to convince the American Marketing Association to move here, Louda said. Another would be to establish a new group devoted to consumer marketing.
‘Already robust’
“I’ve very bullish on Cincinnati,” said Louda, who graduated from the University of Cincinnati College of Law and moved to Hyde Park after 15 years in the nation’s capital. “I like being able to work on something positive that would enhance Cincinnati’s reputation.”
Another volunteer is a UC marketing student who will devote her master’s degree capstone project to studying the depth and breadth of Cincinnati’s consumer-marketing industry. Kiley said the student will map out interactions between consulting firms and industry titans.
“It’s already pretty robust,” said Kiley. “We’ve got 650 members of the American Marketing Association chapter here, 500 members of the ad club, 250 members of the Public Relations Society, so there’s already a lot. It’s just a matter of connecting that to the world-class knowledge that exists in places like Macy’s and P&G and DunnhumbyUSA.”
In the last seven years, employment growth has more than tripled the national average in the two broad industry segments where most consumer marketers work, according to Jeff Rexhausen, associate director of UC’s Economics Center for Education and Research.
Citing data from the Arizona-based research firm EMSI, Rexhausen said specialized design and advertising companies employed 11,701 people in the third quarter of 2009. That’s up 35 percent from 2002.
“We actually have higher employment than we did last year in these industries, which in my mind is a sign of strength,” Rexhausen said.
Of course, Cincinnati was not immune to cutbacks in 2009. Business Courier research indicates roughly 100 jobs were lost at some of Cincinnati’s 25 largest agencies, including Northlich, WonderGroup, JA&G Advertising and HSR Business to Business, which merged with a London company in April to form GyroHSR.
But digital marketing specialist Bridge Worldwide added dozens of new jobs in 2009. Market-research firms Burke Inc. and DunnhumbyUSA committed to new headquarters expansions.
Still, Rexhausen said Cincinnati has a much higher concentration than the nation as a whole, when it comes to jobs in advertising and specialized design. For the Cincinnati region, the concentration is about 40 percent higher than the national average. For Hamilton County alone, it’s double the nation’s concentration.
“This isn’t something that we somehow have to create,” Kiley said. “This is here. We’ve got all the ingredients.”
Source:
Cincinnati Business Courier 
