Cedars, October 2018

October 2018 10 CAMPUS by Shelby McGuire T his year, Cedarville’s Integrated Business Core, or IBC, is revamping. Instead of merely setting up tables in the lower level of the SSC and asking peo- ple to take surveys, the IBC is changing its structure, expanding its marketing and de- veloping a new brand. Last spring, all 32 students in the IBC decided it was time to rebrand. Shaun Mitchell, one of those 32 students, became the Brand Image Director. Like his fellow businesspeople-to-be, Mitchell was part of a small business unit, or SBU. Each group of five or six members begins to develop a product during the spring semester of their sophomore year, and markets it mostly during the fall semes- ter of their junior year. Last year, each SBU worked on formu- lating rebranding ideas. Mitchell took the reins on his SBU’s work and came up with the brand idea that the IBC adopted. He knew that he wanted to make the new company as biblical as possible, and being a lover of the biblical Greek language, he took to the Greek dictionary. He searched the words for faith, Jesus, and salvation, but he finally landed on the word neos. New. “It’s succinct, sounds good, and it’s al- ready biblically integrated,” Mitchell said. There’s several reasons that Mitchell chose the word “new” for the IBC’s rebrand- ing initiative. For one, the IBC is new every year: new people, new products. This year, they’re taking a new approach to business and to the way they are perceived on campus. Finally, it indicates new life in Jesus Christ, and provides a mode for talking about that. “It’s hard to deny that new life,” Mitch- ell said, “and this new truth that we get to live by, and so we wanted to incorporate that into our business.” Neos also stands for New Endeavors of Service. “It’s a really kind of cool way that we’re able to use that word to display what we’re pursuing with the company,” Mitchell said. Mitchell believes that business from a Christian perspective means serving cus- tomers with products or services, and he wants Neos to do this. In the past, the IBC has marketed cheaper, less meaningful products. This year, Mitchell said, the SBUs will sell prod- ucts with more significance. This means that they will cost more, but Mitchell said that he believes they will do well because they conducted market research to find out what products people want. The SBUs will be selling a devotional, a Joy Box, Flu Requisite, a Jordan Lee Dool- ey event, an anatomy booklet and a product that is still in the brainstorming stage. Though independent of each other, the SBUs all fall under Neos. Mitchell drew Neos as an oval from which branched six sub- ovals, each representing an SBU. Belonging to Neos allows the SBUs to apply for one loan to use for their businesses rather than six. The IBC also donates all profits to charity, and having those profits under one parent company makes donating easier. Neos also gives all the SBUs a common mission: to serve customers with their products. Mitchell’s drawing also illustrated a change in the structure of the company. Unlike previous years in the IBC, there will be no corporate structure — no designated president, vice president, directors, or man- agers. This will help with communication, said Senior Andrew Hutton, who was part of the IBC last year and this year is acting as an advisor to the current SBUs, among var- ious other jobs. “It was like playing telephone,” Hutton said, describing the communication process during his IBC year. “The message would be distorted because it went through two or three different people.” This year, if an individual or an SBU needs something, they can just go directly to Hutton, or if the professors or Hutton need to get a message to the SBUs, they just talk right to them. Neos is also going to expand its mar- ket beyond the lower SSC, Mitchell said. They’re going to re-do the IBC website so that it’s easy to navigate, and through that, they hope to reach an off-campus market. Both Mitchell and Hutton expressed their desire to change the way Cedarville students see the IBC and they want to do that through Neos. Hutton said that Neos will work on its image and its distinction from the IBC by placing the Neos logo on every product, having a chapel slide (if they can land it), and partnering with other campus groups like SGA. Mitchell hopes that Neos will last be- yond this year, but recognizes the possibil- ity that future IBC students will also want to rebrand. He believes that business from a Christian perspective should bring glory to God by marketing something worthwhile and telling people about Jesus. Through Neos, he hopes that IBC students will serve others, and through them, that people will see Jesus. Shelby McGuire is a sophomore journal- ism major and Campus News Co-editor for Cedars. She enjoys working out as well as feeding her caffeine addiction pretending that she has her life together. Integrated Business Core Changing and Rebranding Business student Shaun Mitchell helped lead the effort to rebrand the IBC as Neos this year and developed the logo that will appear on all products. www.resoundradio.com Listen Online Now! Student Focused Radio 24/7