Explore Cincinnati

matt.a

The how to present Cincinnati to outsiders conversation always gets me wondering. As a city that is commonly billed as a “branding capitol” we seem inherently incapable of presenting ourselves as unique, desirable brand. We only ever really bill things on sites like CincinnatiUSA that are good draws for area, but things that don’t necessarily make us unique (sports, arts, etc.). Those are kind of baselines people expect from big cities. But what would pull someone from another city?

I think we need to highlight things and actively work on them, things like historic architecture, maybe cleaning up some of the stairs on one of the Clean up Cincinnati days and really highlight the beautiful hills and views (and more of a pedestrian culture). Unique cuisine (I’m excited Cuban food is finally represented here in town) and also locally produced foods could be a big plus for people who come to Cincinnati looking for a unique food experience besides Skyline and Graeters (although I think Goetta is definitely the most underated unique food item). I’m thinking about starting a blog soon and just posting ideas and illustrating them (I’m a designer, so illustrating things is kind of what I do, plus people like drawings) highlighting unique aspects of Cincinnati and how we can utilize them to strengthen the city as a whole.

I think people always talk about the burgeoning potential here, we just need to reach the tipping point. Perhaps that’s drawing people back into the city (which is happening), to the point where outsiders really want to be here.

Keep up the good work with the show.