Northside – A Different DirectionThe new Northside "brand" is intended to:

• Personifies Northside in a unique way and builds meaning into the community
• Creates awareness, recognition and buzz
• Makes a memorable unified experience visually and verbally
• Delivers on a promise
• Helps define us, our story, our rally cry

It fairly screams 1972 to me.
Northside in 1972? The second most violent neighborhood in Cincinnati (behind Price Hill) and a hotspot for outlaw biker clubs. The influx of poor, uneducated Appalachians had mostly replaced the educated middle & upper middle class families & worked low end jobs in nearby factories - soon to close. When the later influx of African Americans came along later racial tensions boiled over as teens fought for their supposed turf.
The neighborhood has changed a lot since then but if we focus on Mary Tyler Moore show reruns, maybe the image fits.
As for it's goals, there is nothing "personifying" in the image.
I don't know what "promise" it delivers on except to deliver a logo.
It's forgettable enough that it might create awareness & buzz for being the most bland & boring thing in a neighborhood full of creativity & energy.
How it unifies anything is beyond me.
As for a rallying cry - a different direction? Following the line it starts & ends in exactly the same direction after a zig zagging lateral movement.
Branding a community means communicating it's cosmion. It's not a boring graphic that might have been found on a hospital wall 40 years ago.
Am I bitter that my Knowlton's Corner Splat thing wasn't used? no, but it was better than what was chosen and even with that, I knew it was just a graphic & not a "brand".
ugh, can't wait for the video with unicorns & rainbows…..