After a year when stormy weather played havoc with the Pepsi Jammin' on Main concert downtown - and cost $300,000 in expenses and lost revenue - organizers at the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra are hoping for better luck this year.

The May 14-15 event is getting more concentrated promotion, even with budget troubles that have the CSO cutting back other programs. The symphony is facing a $1.45 million deficit this year and has canceled its popular Bach & Beyond summertime music series as one cost-cutting measure.

"The CSO has not wavered," said Mike Smith, head of the CSO's Music and Event Management Inc. unit that runs Jammin'. "They know that when you're looking at a business model of this type, over a 10-year period you're going to have two, maybe three, years that are a problem.

"There's no point in doing it wrong."

Smith said presold tickets are well ahead of last year, and there's more chatter on music-oriented message boards about the event. In past years, it has earned annual profits topping $100,000 for the Symphony.

Park it here

There's another study under way that once again could change the proposed location of a new public arts school in Over-the-Rhine.

Supporters have long targeted a spot adjoining Music Hall for the school. They're about halfway to their goal to raise $26 million privately by June to earn a match from Cincinnati Public Schools.

But now the new Cincinnati Center City Development Corp., called 3CDC, is conducting a parking study for the area surrounding Washington Park. CPS already has targeted a site just south of Music Hall for the new arts school. And somewhere in the neighborhood, it still wants to fit a replacement for the Washington Park school.

The question: Will the new study help private fund-raising by creating a better plan, or will the delay hurt it while supporters are trying to meet the June deadline?

3CDC officials say the study is part of their mission to look past specific construction projects and try to plan neighborhoods.

"With both schools going there, it created huge parking problems for Music Hall," said Des Bracey, Over-the-Rhine director for the group. "For us to add value in Washington Park, we had to look at the parking issue."

Bill Knodel, who heads the private effort for the arts school, said there needn't be a conflict.

"We clearly want to make sure the parking for Music Hall is adequately addressed," he said.

Love on a 2-way street

Head & Shoulders is a brand. Tide is a "lovemark."

This may not be the sort of language you hear often in corporate boardrooms, but Kevin Roberts would like to change that.

The CEO of global ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi has written a new book, Lovemarks.

He says the best product names aren't trademarks anymore. They are brands that shoppers adore and can't do without, or lovemarks.

It's no surprise that Procter & Gamble Co. brand types are using the same flowery language - as much Stephen Covey as Jack Welch. It's not an accident, since Roberts is a key adviser to P&G chairman A.G. Lafley, who wrote the foreword for his book.

"Head & Shoulders has an opportunity now to add more mystery," Roberts said. "It's got to establish its beauty credentials."

E-mail cpeale@enquirer.com