Also, this move saves taxpayers $1 per year.  Hooray. 

Are you guys actually saying the streetcar colors will change - as in repainting - or just the logo/colors will change?

the way I read it, the streetcars will be repainted. Will it be blue and white or green and white or blue and green(hope not). And I'd like to see them keep the gray.

Yea that's pretty terrible. I hope nobody calls it the new name, which is straight up dumb. Guessing a large portion of the money they're putting in will simply go to changing everything.

^thats sad. They looked so happy the way they are now

Also, this move saves taxpayers $1 per year.  Hooray. 

 

I'm not sure I follow...the deal is for $340,000/year. How does that only save the taxpayers $1/year?

This is a horrible precedent as it portends the branding of a future regional network.  It insults the grassroots effort that got this thing built by giving the name and design to an anonymous, boring corporation.

Totally agree. As usual corporate America won't help out to get something done but will swoop in and reap the benefits afterwards.

Everyone will continue to call it the Streetcar. But, if branding brings us some future funding for expanding our transit, I'll call it whatever they want. I'll miss the colors though.

 

 

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A local company who recently moved nearly 1,000 employees downtown just sponsored the streetcar for $3m+. The only companies who could afford to do something like this would be a company of this size of larger. Not sure why there is a reason to be upset with a name. People will call it the streetcar regardless of the brand.

In other (minor) news... bollards were installed today on 2nd Street and the Walnut & Main St. bridges.  Maybe elsewhere? So far, little effect... (sorry, pic taken while driving @ ~4:45 PM)

^ Your photo proves no one will pay attention to the bollards since there is a car in the streetcar only lane

 

 

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Also, this move saves taxpayers $1 per year.  Hooray. 

 

I'm not sure I follow...the deal is for $340,000/year. How does that only save the taxpayers $1/year?

 

 

The city's population is about 300,000.  Do the math.

 

We have to quit holding our hand out as a society to these corporations to support the arts and civic projects.  They pay significantly less federal and state tax than they did 30-50 years ago, back when there was hardly any national debt.  Their executives paid much higher income tax as well.  Locally, they are given property tax abatements and even have employee municipal earnings tax given back to corporate (GE at the banks). 

 

 

I think once the ridership numbers come in it will be shown that Cincinnati Bell got a very good deal...

 

My biggest concern is if they rename the stations- right now they have descriptive names that let people know where they are like "12th and Main, "Liberty and Race", "Washington Park" or "the Banks."  I'd hate to see them get renamed to goofy things that don't mean anything.

 

Maybe this can prolong the number of years we can keep fares at $1 for 2 hours and $2 all day as well.  That's really cheap right now and will be ridiculously low five years from now. 

At first I was excited about this, but idk it seems kind of lame. Renaming the stations? To what? Hopefully this will at least allow discussions to resume about phase two.

To be clear I don't know if their renaming the stations, all the press release says is "Streetcar stations will be rebranded as Cincinnati Bell stations." That could just mean the circle signs with the "C".

At first I was excited about this, but idk it seems kind of lame. Renaming the stations? To what? Hopefully this will at least allow discussions to resume about phase two.

 

Again, it sets a horrible precedent.  Will a citywide system now be branded?  Would 3C's rail be branded?  Why not sell naming rights for the interstates? 

 

 

I just hope having big sponsors like this doesn't affect the expansion debate (where it goes next and how) in any way (other than improving the operating budget picture.)

I just hope having big sponsors like this doesn't affect the expansion debate (where it goes next and how) in any way (other than improving the operating budget picture.)

 

The operating expense for this phase was an incidental one from the city's perspective -- only about 1% of the city's operating budget.  The media allowed the COAST/Smitherman/Cranley crisis narrative to win.  Now Cranley gets to throw $300k per year at cronies that he wouldn't have been able to otherwise. 

At first I was excited about this, but idk it seems kind of lame. Renaming the stations? To what? Hopefully this will at least allow discussions to resume about phase two.

 

Again, it sets a horrible precedent.  Will a citywide system now be branded?  Would 3C's rail be branded?  Why not sell naming rights for the interstates?

They don't sell the rights to those but do it already for state troopers etc...such and such memorial highway...

To be clear I don't know if their renaming the stations, all the press release says is "Streetcar stations will be rebranded as Cincinnati Bell stations." That could just mean the circle signs with the "C".

 

Now arriving at Fountain Fioptics Square. Next stop is 6th and Main Affordable Home Phone Service corner.

Can the 12th and Main stop be called "We can't figure out how to get fioptics from the street to your building" stop?

Can the 12th and Main stop be called "We can't figure out how to get fioptics from the street to your building" stop?

 

No, that'll be the name of 12th and Race stop.  We keep holding out switching to Time Warner because we were told that FiOptics is coming soon, but that was almost a year ago.

Jesus some of you will literally complain about everything. 

I've been trying to get fioptics at my house on republic near 12th  for almost 4 years.  I call it the time warner zone.

The best thing about this is that we can get rid of the stupid Pittsburgh color scheme they choose.

The best thing about this is that we can get rid of the stupid Pittsburgh color scheme they choose.

 

I'm sick of hearing it frankly.  Its a nice looking color scheme and the whole world doesn't revolve around petty sports rivalries.

I feel sorry for the people who designed the current branding and color scheme. They did all the tough work of making a vilified thing look sleek and cool and did a great job with the logos and branding and now as its about to open and finally prove its success it will all go to some corporate entity. It makes Cincinnati once again feel small and provincial that other cities have transit lines named after colors or numbers or letters and ours is named after a local phone company. I worry that this makes the streetcar seem less like a serious transportation type and more like a kitschy people mover or shuttle. I don't think it would've bothered me if the word streetcar was still in the name, but reducing it to "connector" feels like its trying to cover up its tumultuous history and start from scratch. That last part might work to fool the dumbest of the WLW listeners, but to me it seems like a whitewashing attempt, like it feels guilty of what it actually is and is trying to hide it.

The best thing about this is that we can get rid of the stupid Pittsburgh color scheme they choose.

 

A lot of people like the "stupid Pittsburgh color scheme".  The vehicles look great as they are.  Honestly, when looking at the streetcars, how many people besides some football fans are even reminded of the Steelers?  Not only has this analogy seemed bogus to me, but it's mainly been put forth by streetcar opponents.

 

Why waste the resources it's going take to change the color scheme of the cars?  Surely some creative folks can come up with another means by which branding can be imposed in a way that doesn't change the overall appearance and attractiveness of the cars, like maybe some sort of decal-like logo that's just added in a tasteful way.

I feel sorry for the people who designed the current branding and color scheme. They did all the tough work of making a vilified thing look sleek and cool and did a great job with the logos and branding

 

Me too.  It makes me sick that someone on the City's behalf negotiated this aspect of the deal.  I can't believe Amy Murray even alluded to the "Steelers' colors" in the newspaper article.  She always manages to somehow pander to the opponents.  I'll never forget when she called the streetcar a rolling homeless shelter.

My last response came across as too negative, which really this is great news that local corporations aren't afraid to touch the streetcar like they were at first. I think this shows that smart people and people with money are starting to realize it will be successful. But I don't know maybe I had just gotten too attached to the possible name Skyline Streetcar...

 

But if this change in name and branding, and calling it a connector instead of a streetcar helps people to move on past arguing over it and just accepting it as part of the city then the whole change will be totally worth it. Otherwise, it seems like a drastic change for not a ton of cash that could've been done with bus wrap clings or decals. This seems like enough money for a sponsorship to the Cincy Streetcar, not enough for a total rebranding from scratch.

My high school was Michigan colors.

I am a bit surprised to see so much negativity about this. Look at it this way. For the first time, a major corporation in Cincinnati has come out in support of the streetcar. Surely there are executives at Kroger, P&G, Macy's, Fifth Third (and 3CDC for that matter) who support the streetcar but couldn't say so because the project was the political hot potato. Do you guys remember when COAST used to say, "If the streetcar is a good idea, why hasn't a single major corporation gotten behind it?" Now we have Cincinnati Bell spending $10M to put their name on the thing for a decade. While that might not be a huge amount of money in the grand scheme of things, it opens the door for a bidding war in 10 years where Cincinnati Bell has to fight other companies for naming rights. And it might open the door to other big companies buying ads on it.

 

Let's also not forget that Cincinnati Bell voluntarily chose to bury their utilities along the entire route during streetcar construction. Duke Energy just did the cheapest thing possible which meant installing taller utility poles in northern OTR.

 

The only real concern I have is about extensions. Hopefully they were smart enough to call out the possibility of future extensions in the contract, and offer Cincinnati Bell the option of paying extra to sponsor an expanded system. It would be a disaster if the main line was called the "Cincinnati Bell Connector" but the extensions weren't.

 

Also -- everyone is going to keep calling this thing the streetcar.

But I don't know maybe I had just gotten too attached to the possible name Skyline Streetcar...

 

 

 

I liked Christian More-Line

But I don't know maybe I had just gotten too attached to the possible name Skyline Streetcar...

 

 

 

I liked Christian More-Line

 

I think people would have actually called it the Moer-Line

I feel sorry for the people who designed the current branding and color scheme. They did all the tough work of making a vilified thing look sleek and cool and did a great job with the logos and branding and now as its about to open and finally prove its success it will all go to some corporate entity. It makes Cincinnati once again feel small and provincial that other cities have transit lines named after colors or numbers or letters and ours is named after a local phone company. I worry that this makes the streetcar seem less like a serious transportation type and more like a kitschy people mover or shuttle. I don't think it would've bothered me if the word streetcar was still in the name, but reducing it to "connector" feels like its trying to cover up its tumultuous history and start from scratch. That last part might work to fool the dumbest of the WLW listeners, but to me it seems like a whitewashing attempt, like it feels guilty of what it actually is and is trying to hide it.

 

Do the cars look nice, Yes. did people spend a lot of time picking them out? probably. Did they utterly fail in their task? Absolutely. This is not about football or sports but branding. Pittsburgh yellow is not about the steelers, the whole town takes on that color. All sports teams and Pitt University incorporate it. The bridges, trains, buses, etc do.

 

We are the center of Branding, it is time to do it right. Don't do some crappy job, make it all about Cincinnati, pick colors that symbolize us. Red, Black, orange, blue are all colors that are more Cincinnati than Yellow. Good for Cincy Bell.

For everyone upset about the CBC, did anyone care about the "Health Line"?

 

I think people would have actually called it the Moer-Line

 

That sounds like a name for an extension.

Has there been a rendering published of how the new color scheme will look on the streetcars?

I feel sorry for the people who designed the current branding and color scheme. They did all the tough work of making a vilified thing look sleek and cool and did a great job with the logos and branding and now as its about to open and finally prove its success it will all go to some corporate entity. It makes Cincinnati once again feel small and provincial that other cities have transit lines named after colors or numbers or letters and ours is named after a local phone company. I worry that this makes the streetcar seem less like a serious transportation type and more like a kitschy people mover or shuttle. I don't think it would've bothered me if the word streetcar was still in the name, but reducing it to "connector" feels like its trying to cover up its tumultuous history and start from scratch. That last part might work to fool the dumbest of the WLW listeners, but to me it seems like a whitewashing attempt, like it feels guilty of what it actually is and is trying to hide it.

 

Do the cars look nice, Yes. did people spend a lot of time picking them out? probably. Did they utterly fail in their task? Absolutely. This is not about football or sports but branding. Pittsburgh yellow is not about the steelers, the whole town takes on that color. All sports teams and Pitt University incorporate it. The bridges, trains, buses, etc do.

 

We are the center of Branding, it is time to do it right. Don't do some crappy job, make it all about Cincinnati, pick colors that symbolize us. Red, Black, orange, blue are all colors that are more Cincinnati than Yellow. Good for Cincy Bell.

 

Agreed. Too much branding talent in this town to miss that.

 

I am a bit surprised to see so much negativity about this. Look at it this way. For the first time, a major corporation in Cincinnati has come out in support of the streetcar. Surely there are executives at Kroger, P&G, Macy's, Fifth Third (and 3CDC for that matter) who support the streetcar but couldn't say so because the project was the political hot potato. Do you guys remember when COAST used to say, "If the streetcar is a good idea, why hasn't a single major corporation gotten behind it?" Now we have Cincinnati Bell spending $10M to put their name on the thing for a decade. While that might not be a huge amount of money in the grand scheme of things, it opens the door for a bidding war in 10 years where Cincinnati Bell has to fight other companies for naming rights. And it might open the door to other big companies buying ads on it.

 

Let's also not forget that Cincinnati Bell voluntarily chose to bury their utilities along the entire route during streetcar construction. Duke Energy just did the cheapest thing possible which meant installing taller utility poles in northern OTR.

 

The only real concern I have is about extensions. Hopefully they were smart enough to call out the possibility of future extensions in the contract, and offer Cincinnati Bell the option of paying extra to sponsor an expanded system. It would be a disaster if the main line was called the "Cincinnati Bell Connector" but the extensions weren't.

 

Also -- everyone is going to keep calling this thing the streetcar.

 

I share your sentiment. It's also an opportunity for Uptown and NoKY to push for planning and PR support as opposed to corporate Joe showing up on Super Bowl Sunday with a bag of cash and riding the streetcar's popularity coattails.

 

Also, this move saves taxpayers $1 per year.  Hooray. 

 

I'm not sure I follow...the deal is for $340,000/year. How does that only save the taxpayers $1/year?

 

 

The city's population is about 300,000.  Do the math.

 

We have to quit holding our hand out as a society to these corporations to support the arts and civic projects.  They pay significantly less federal and state tax than they did 30-50 years ago, back when there was hardly any national debt.  Their executives paid much higher income tax as well.  Locally, they are given property tax abatements and even have employee municipal earnings tax given back to corporate (GE at the banks). 

 

 

 

The firm that acquired the contract also took a 38% commission. Do the math again!

I am a bit surprised to see so much negativity about this. Look at it this way. For the first time, a major corporation in Cincinnati has come out in support of the streetcar. Surely there are executives at Kroger, P&G, Macy's, Fifth Third (and 3CDC for that matter) who support the streetcar but couldn't say so because the project was the political hot potato. Do you guys remember when COAST used to say, "If the streetcar is a good idea, why hasn't a single major corporation gotten behind it?" Now we have Cincinnati Bell spending $10M to put their name on the thing for a decade. While that might not be a huge amount of money in the grand scheme of things, it opens the door for a bidding war in 10 years where Cincinnati Bell has to fight other companies for naming rights. And it might open the door to other big companies buying ads on it.

 

Cincinnati Bell in particular has made a very strong effort to rebrand itself and change up its image since dropping cell phone service in 2014. This is definitely a very good move on their part to keep up on getting noticed.

I won't mind the color change if its sharp and tasteful. My biggest fear is that the city and Metro put tons of effort into branding the Streetcar to make it look stylish and it comes out looking like a clown car.

 

That being said we are still going to have giant ads plastered all over the outside for 4EG, ToB and Rhinegeist so its going to be bad either way.

I understand this can be, how can I say, bittersweet.  Saying goodbye to the image and logo we came to rally behind and seeing it go to a company.  That said, it will always be the streetcar, or how I've heard it from business colleagues from Europe and Australia, "tram".  And that is actually a brilliant marketing name from Cincinnati Bell, the "Connector".

 

I do think a bit though that it can feel a little small townish, but once we get boring a tunnel through Mt. Auburn to Uptown, I think it sounds just as good to say, "I'm taking the connector downtown to the Reds game", etc.

I won't mind the color change if its sharp and tasteful. My biggest fear is that the city and Metro put tons of effort into branding the Streetcar to make it look stylish and it comes out looking like a clown car.

 

That being said we are still going to have giant ads plastered all over the outside for 4EG, ToB and Rhinegeist so its going to be bad either way.

 

  ^ An understatement from what I've seen

 

The good news is that this should end the debate of whether the cars are orange or yellow, but I go down as being sure that they are orange. In terms of the color debate, if the streetcar is mostly light with accents of cincy bell blue and green it will end up looking a lot more like the metro buses. To me this could be a good thing, creating a cohesive transit look, and a bad thing, having dumbasses wave the streetcar around their delivery truck believing a metro bus is behind them and not a streetcar.

I don't get why people even think this thing needed to be "branded".  There are countless examples of un-branded things that are or were wildly successful.  We had a guy named Tom RAPER who sold 100,000+ RV's.  As Jerry Seigfeld noted re: Grape Nuts cereal -- "no grapes, no nuts". 

 

For all the "branding talent" this city supposedly has, where is the great new city logo and slogan taking America by storm?  Who remembers the "let the spirit move you" branding campaign from the 90s?

 

 

 

I don't get why people even think this thing needed to be "branded".  There are countless examples of un-branded things that are or were wildly successful.  We had a guy named Tom RAPER who sold 100,000+ RV's.  As Jerry Seigfeld noted re: Grape Nuts cereal -- "no grapes, no nuts". 

 

For all the "branding talent" this city supposedly has, where is the great new city logo and slogan taking America by storm?  Who remembers the "let the spirit move you" branding campaign from the 90s?

 

 

Because idiot put Laure Quinliven in charge of branding and we ended up with "the City that Sings"

Tank Full of Freedom... http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,10187.msg813936.html#msg813936

I don't get why people even think this thing needed to be "branded".  There are countless examples of un-branded things that are or were wildly successful.  We had a guy named Tom RAPER who sold 100,000+ RV's.  As Jerry Seigfeld noted re: Grape Nuts cereal -- "no grapes, no nuts". 

 

For all the "branding talent" this city supposedly has, where is the great new city logo and slogan taking America by storm?  Who remembers the "let the spirit move you" branding campaign from the 90s?

 

 

Because idiot put Laure Quinliven in charge of branding and we ended up with "the City that Sings"

 

 

All of the hubbub over "branding" in this town is for branding of generic products.  The only difference between Crest toothpaste and its competitors is the packaging and push behind it.  It, along with everything P&G makes, is virtually identical at the molecular level with its competitors.  It's all just a stupid cola war. 

 

The streetcar isn't competing with another streetcar on a parallel set of tracks (which actually happened back in the for-profit era).  People scrunch their noses at things that are over-marketed. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My gut instinct was to hate the name (I'm just sorta "meh" to it now), but if NYC has Citi Bike, I guess I can live with this.

Streetcar advertising near goal, but you can still sponsor a station

 

Cincinnati Bell's decision to buy naming rights to the streetcar was the windfall the project's budget needed to meet revenue projections in year one -- and that's before it even begins carrying passengers.

 

But there are plenty of unsold spots for sponsors, an Enquirer review of records show.

 

The naming rights deal has been inked. Advertising slots inside are mostly filled.

 

Cont

 

 

Streetcar Advertising:

Architects Foundation of Cincinnati

Four Entertainment Group

Jack Casino

Joanie Bernard Foundations

Kerry Toyota

Rhinegeist Brewery

Taste of Belgium

Tom and Chee

University of Cincinnati Lindner College of Business

 

Station sponsorship:

Jack Casino

Richter and Phillips

Stough Development

 

Station advertising:

Bromwells

Christian Moerlien

First Star Logistics

Jack Casino

Richter and Phillips

St. Elizabeth Hospital

U.S. Bank

U.S. Bank Arena