Tear it Down Without Ripping Your Brand Apart

deimaging photo

It is every business owner’s worst nightmare. After years of hard work and dedication, one or more of your business locations is closing.  Now you’re left with a vacant building that still has all of your company signage and branding inside and out.  If you still operate in other cities or states, having an ugly looking closed location can hurt your company image and brand. That’s where Commercial Asset Preservation (CAP) comes in. We use a detailed process called De-imaging to remove your brand’s image from the building, including signage, logos, window stickers, paint color, and distinctive construction features that could represent the vacant building as once belonging to your business or franchise.

 What is De-Imaging?

De-imaging, also known as de-branding or de-identification, is the process of removing a company’s image from a building. CAP performs two types of de-imaging: soft de-identification or bagging and full de-branding or de-imaging.

Soft De-Imaging

Soft de-imaging is a smaller scale de-imaging process. Exterior pole and other street signage is covered by our team and posters are removed from all windows and either discarded or stored for future use.  Any brand identifying items, such as menu boards, are covered with tie backs.  This method allows the menu boards and other signage to be used in the future by our clients or a new operator that moves into the building.

Full De-Imaging

Full de-imaging is a much more intensive process than soft de-imaging. The building is essentially converted into a generic looking “shell” through this process. Signage is removed from the pole, menu boards are taken down, and window stickers are detached. If there are any brand-specific features about the building that makes the building identifiable as once being your brand or restaurant, we can correct that for you. For example, one of our client’s properties has a very distinctive roof above the entryway. We took down that portion of the roof and installed a new traditional style roof, so that the vacant building wouldn’t tarnish our client’s brand. We will take into account your specific needs in developing a full de-imaging plan.

Full de-imaging also helps CAP’s clients vacate a building and ensures that the property meets local safety and health requirements. Steps taken to meet these requirements include:

  • Changing locks to all entry doors
  • Installing a lock box
  • Boarding of all windows and glass doors, if required under the lease agreement and/or to prevent vandalism
  • Re-glazing broken windows if boarding is not desired or permitted
  • Repainting the exterior to remove trademarks and color schemes of the former tenant
  • Removing all point-of-purchase elements and trademarks, merchandise, any promotional decals, and other promotional material or merchandising items
  • Properly capping all exposed electrical wiring
  • Properly terminating all utilities
  • Ensuring that all of the interior and exterior (including dumpsters) is free from trash and debris
  • Removing all food, paper and other interior debris from the premises

De-Imaging is great way for you to maintain a strong brand image after a closure or multiple closures throughout your portfolio. For more information on de-imaging, please contact Nancy Carrillo, Vice President & National Sales Executive at 407-883-1139 or nancyc@commercialpreservation.com.

 

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