Changing brand perception: Changing university students' attitude toward a company and enabling a talented recruiting pool
Creators: name: Russell, Sloan
Publisher: name: University of Utah
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Business education (Internship)
subject: Marketing
subject: FOS: Economics and business

description: Students often participate in internships to gain real-world experience before entering the workforce. This proves beneficial to students, allowing them to apply the skills they learned via higher education and develop problem-solving abilities, while employers find internships allow them to recruit talent and discover what type of students transition easily into their company. Well trained, talented students are essential to the success of a company, especially those that are growing. This thesis utilizes the information obtained during my internship at Vivint, analyzing how previous companies and universities came together to form partnerships, and what advantages resulted. These partnerships can be beneficial for several reasons: private companies often adhere to shareholders; it is difficult for companies to utilize unconventional research methods; partnering allows corporations access to research methodology, especially desirable to shareholders who often withhold corporate spending for innovative research, rather than sustain and fund the research themselves. Vivint wants to accomplish four objectives in a partnership with a university: research and further product development; collect real time data and observe it; find capable and ready recruits; and license new IP (intellectual property). In order to accomplish these objectives and form a viable partnership with a university, Vivint has a unique challenge: as a large start-up company, in addition to building national brand awareness like most companies in the US, they also have to change their brand perception in Utah. Utah residents were very familiar with the company's former name, APX, and what it accomplished; now they concern themselves with rebranding. Brand awareness is meaningful, whether associated with high-end or low-end products. It is the extent to which consumers are familiar with the distinctive qualities or image of a particular brand of goods or services (Oxford Dictionary, 2015). Per a California marketing agency, enlisted to conduct a poll on recall of the brand and company mission, Vivint's current brand awareness is estimated at less than 1% across the nation. Although the company possesses a strong sales force and superior products, consumers are unaware of these strengths, leading to a need to increase advertising and overall brand awareness across the US, called the Smart Home Campaign. Innovative technologies and a superb sales force brought Vivint to its current position. However, during rapid growth, most companies experience adversity. Vivint, like so many others, faced public hardship; press organizations released negative concerning aggressive sales tactics by some of Vivint's employees. Vivint recruits most of it sales force from college campuses, offering young men and women an opportunity to pay for college and graduate debt free. Vivint transitioned from being a door-to-door sales company to an innovation company in 2012, after APX suffered negative press about the company and needed to rebrand as it moved into home automation. The company seeks talented, well rounded employees for their ranks, hiring at Harvard, Stanford, MIT, and many other Ivy League schools. Recruiting students is easier at Ivy League schools, in comparison to recruiting at the University of Utah, because these students are not familiar with the brand, nor have any preconceived notions of its reputation.