Two years after changing its name, few people call the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston by its new name of UTHealth. The system is looking into a $250,000 branding campaign to change that, according to a Houston Chronicle report.
The system adopted the UTHealth name in 2010 as a better description of its broad missions, which include medical, dental and nursing schools, and programs in public health, information health sciences and biomedical sciences.
Even some of the system's leaders still call it "the health science center," such as UTHealth's COO and CFO Kevin Dillon, who has said he doesn't always call the system by its new name, according to the report. He said system has allocated $250,000 per year of its annual $1 billion operating budget for the campaign, which will begin in September.
Betsy Gelb, a marketing professor at the University of Houston's Bauer College of Business, said name changes are long-term investments, according to the report. "Over time, you get people who have not been exposed to the old name. All they encounter is the new name, and they believe that's the name," she said.
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The system adopted the UTHealth name in 2010 as a better description of its broad missions, which include medical, dental and nursing schools, and programs in public health, information health sciences and biomedical sciences.
Even some of the system's leaders still call it "the health science center," such as UTHealth's COO and CFO Kevin Dillon, who has said he doesn't always call the system by its new name, according to the report. He said system has allocated $250,000 per year of its annual $1 billion operating budget for the campaign, which will begin in September.
Betsy Gelb, a marketing professor at the University of Houston's Bauer College of Business, said name changes are long-term investments, according to the report. "Over time, you get people who have not been exposed to the old name. All they encounter is the new name, and they believe that's the name," she said.
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