I would like to congratulate Tech for finally upgrading the digital sign on North Avenue and Williams Street next to I-85.
For years, the sign has been reminding travellers on the highway of Tech’s existence and various athletic events. However, travellers would have to be quick to read the sign as they drove past it. The sign has had numerous display problems—flashing, blurriness and even as much as having parts of the display completely broken. In short, the sign was not a shining beacon for Tech. It needed an update.
I was pleased when I discovered that Tech recently replaced the digital sign along with many other entry signs around campus. With this, Tech’s image to Atlanta and visitors has improved 1,000 percent.
I’m disappointed that it took Tech almost the duration of my college career to replace the sign. For a university such as Tech with our prestige and endowment, it should not have taken several years for a faulty sign that is visible to millions of people every year to be fixed. Tech has the money for it. They should have fixed it.
Tech’s brand is what the public sees and what they remember. My mom remembers Tech by Buzz and the “Yellow Jackets.” Tech has established that brand over a long period of time. However, my mom is the parent of a Tech student. Tech has waved their strictly controlled brand in front of my parents and I since I got accepted into Tech. However, prospective high school seniors and people not associated with Tech, they only see what brand of Tech is visible—external signs, apps and websites.
A brand can make you have a completely different idea of Tech. A brand is everything.
I’m glad that Tech is working on improving the brand around campus by replacing old campus signs. However, there are many more flawed and outdated components to Tech brand.
For example, Tech has an official iPhone app. However, the application has not been updated in over year and has not been updated to support Apple’s newest iPhone display size since the announcement of the iPhone 5. In addition to those issues, several features in this application are broken for a long time. Is this Tech? A broken, out-of-date iPhone app? I don’t think so. Like the digital sign, if someone were to look at the app, they would have a bad impression of Tech. What are we saying about ourselves as a university if our official iPhone application is behind on the times?
Tech has a great brand. Buzz is a lovable icon for Tech. However, the same care and attention to detail needs to extend to all reaches of the Tech brand, no matter how small. All elements of the brand must be maintained. If they are not maintained, the brand will suffer. Tech needs to focus on maintaining and ensuring that their existing brand holds up to the high standards we all as students have for Tech.