Monday, September 22, 2008

The Changing of an Image


I’m back on the blog! I just started my senior year at Baylor University with 18 hours worth of classes. It was crazy at first, but I enjoy it because most of my classes involve group projects. It will help me to learn how to work with co-workers in the future! Since everyone is back at school, I noticed that there were a few brand changes.

From all of the books I read during my internship (look at my blog posts with the book titles), I learned that image is very important for business. Businesses want to have a great image to give a reason for customers to come back. They want to have an image that will stay on the customers’ mind.

Baylor University is working on its image. Baylor is known for a beautiful campus with nice red brick buildings with white cement details, green grass, and gorgeous landscapes. When people are driving on I-35, which will take them up on the bridge, they will see the overview of Baylor’s campus. People will notice that Baylor is a beautiful campus, but there are distractions in front of the campus. The drivers will notice that two gas stations, an IHOP, and a little section of shops are blocking their view of the Baylor campus. Baylor has just bought this land, and they will tear down the buildings during the fall/winter of 2008. They will replace those buildings with green grass. It will improve the image of the Baylor campus: better, sharper, cleaner, and with more of an Ivy-League look.

McAllister’s Deli is another great example. I remember McAllister’s because it has Baylor shirts on the ceiling tiles. It was fun to eat there while looking at all of the colorful shirts that represent several Baylor organizations. This is the Waco brand, not the chain. Well, McAllister’s just did a renovation to the building over the summer. I have to say that the building looks great, but I was disappointed when I walked inside. The shirts are not on the ceiling anymore. I was wondering why they would take that brand away. I talked to several people, including my brother, and they were also disappointed about the shirts. It turned out that they did not take them away. They ended up hanging all of the shirts on the walls in the hallway to the bathroom. At least they are still there, but talk about a demotion!

Fixing an image can be a good or bad. It is better to improve it instead of completely changing it for the worse! It is better to keep current customers while gaining new customers.