The issue of rebranding institutions of higher education has attracted little attention in\r\nscholarly publications. However, intense competition in the higher education market has\r\nforced institutions to modify elements of their brands. The current study seeks to shed light\r\non the challenges of undertaking a rebranding exercise in an institution of higher education in\r\nBotswana, a context which is under researched. The purpose of the current study is to\r\nestablish the perceptions of students of the University of Botswana regarding its brand equity\r\nfollowing the rebranding exercise. A structured questionnaire was administered to a sample\r\nof 336 University students majoring in business. Overall, the results showed that the brand\r\nequity of the new logo was lower than that of the old logo. The results of the paired t-tests\r\nrevealed that students tend to recall and recognize the old logo more than the new logo.\r\nStudents are also attracted, affectionate and attached to the old logo more than the new one.\r\nSince rebranding can erode some of the important aspects of an existing brand, it has to be\r\nimplemented cautiously. Importantly, effective communication is critical to inspire students\r\nto embrace the new logo and their perceptions need to be tracked periodically in order to\r\nestablish whether the desired brand image has been generated.
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