Amazing Image Reinvention Stories Across the Business World

A successful company is one that has been able to adapt and adjust to the changing times, and it's both common and expected that businesses will try to promote a different image over the years. In some cases these are small shifts over a long period, but today we're looking at some far more dramatic image changes and the stories behind them.

Casino

For the vast majority of the casino industry's lifetime, now well over 100 years of history, there were two prevailing popular images. There were the traditional and more conservative establishments of Monte Carlo, and then the louder extravagant casinos like Caesar's Palace or the Luxor on the Las Vegas strip. While those still exist today, these casinos have reinvented huge parts of their images with massive technological overhauls.

Since the late 90s and early 2000s, the casino industry as a whole has put forward a new, technology-focused face to the public. Between web and app versions, online slot games or live online card games are as much of a standard now as land-based games. When you factor in related things like bingo or sports betting, which can all be done through apps, you can see a dramatic shift in image within a remarkably short period.

Western Union

We start to narrow down now into one specific example, and this one is something of a household name in many countries around the world. For as long as most can remember, Western Union have been the gold standard for making wire transfers, not only in their American home but across Europe, Africa, and beyond.

It is a testament to the marketing power behind the company that this is the main market Western Union is known for, given that it has only been the focus for a relatively small portion of the company's history. From the 1850s right up until the 1980s, Western Union was first and foremost a communications company, with money transfer only being a small side business. After a dramatic shift in marketing efforts in the 90s, they managed to make themselves one of the great faces of personal finance and took their telegram history almost out of public memory entirely.

Wipro

Unless you move in Indian business circles, you may be forgiven if Wipro isn't a company on your radar. At present, Wipro is one of the largest IT companies to have ever come out of the Indian subcontinent and has previously been referred to as the 'IBM of India' for the scale and importance of its operations. It was even the most valued company in all of India during the dot-com boom.

That's what makes it all the more surprising when you look at the company's origins. Prior to a massive market jump in the 1980s, Wipro was primarily known as a vegetable oil manufacturer. The name Wipro comes originally from Western India Vegetable Products Limited, started in 1945 in Bangalore, although that original business area has now long been abandoned in favor of IT services.

There are plenty more stories out there in the business world if you want to put in a little research time. The lesson here is that even huge industries and companies can change direction quickly with a strong marketing team behind them!