The Baylor Business Review (BBR), debuted in 1983 and serves as the flagship communication of the Hankamer School of Business. The BBR communicates stories about how the University’s mission and values manifest in the lives of our alumni, faculty and students, as well as other business leaders around the world. The magazine also serves as a forum to discuss current business issues from the perspectives of academics as well as practitioners.
Published twice each year, the BBR averages 32 pages per issue and reaches approximately 42,000 subscribers, alumni and friends of the business school. Each issue of the magazine has a designated theme. Past themes include Global Business; The Business of Being Healthy; Technology; Customer Service; Small Business; the School’s Faculty, Graduate Programs and Undergraduate Programs; Innovation; Sustainability and Social Responsibility; Real Estate; Energy; Entrepreneurship; and Sports Marketing.
As the business world has evolved, the BBR has evolved with it. The magazine was first published as an 8.5” x 11” glossy, two-color magazine. Under the direction of CJ Jackson, director of Communications and Marketing, extensive research was conducted in 2002 and 2003, which resulted in the introduction of the Baylor Business market position and brand. In conjunction with the school’s rebranding, the magazine underwent a major redesign with the fall 2003 issue. The magazine is now a colorful 9.5” x 11.75” publication with creative photos and graphics.
In 2005, the BBR was offered online for the first time. As for the printed publication, the magazine went “green” with the fall 2007 issue. The magazine is currently printed on FSC-certified 100 percent postconsumer waste entirely with non-polluting, wind-generated energy and contains 100 percent postconsumer recycled fiber. In 2011, the magazine’s website was redesigned for more readership engagement and moved to the domain bbr.baylor.edu. The BBR iPad app, which serves as an additional content platform and a way to further connect with audiences while expanding the magazine’s readership, was launched in 2012. The free BBR app offers readers an enhanced experience through videos, audio podcasts, interactive features such as hot spots and flip pages, and additional photos not published in the magazine (bbr.baylor.edu/app). In 2014, the School released the Baylor AR App, an augmented reality (AR) application used to showcase the new home of the Hankamer School of Business, the Paul L. Foster Campus for Business and Innovation. According to Mashable, AR is a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. The Baylor AR app is the first augmented reality app published by Baylor University. Since its release April 11, 2014, the Baylor AR app has been downloaded in 26 countries on 1444 devices. It has been a featured app in the iTunes App Store in 30 different countries, and it has been featured in the iTunes App Store under “Free Education Apps.
In 2015, after receiving feedback from readers, the BBR was redesigned again. Articles with less than 30 percent readership were removed, taking the magazine from a dense 60 pages to 32. In an effort to better represent readers, instead of four alumni profiles, the magazine features two alumni profiles, a profile of a recent graduate (someone who has graduated in the past five years), and a current student profile. In addition, the design has been simplified to allow for easier reading. The BBR continues to be published on 9.5” x 11.75” 100 percent postconsumer waste recycled paper.
The Baylor Business Review has proven itself as a reputable publication on a national and international scale, earning more than 50 awards over the last 10 years. In 2005, the re-designed publication won the Gold Circle of Excellence Award for magazine improvement from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). Most recently, the magazine earned two 2014 AAF awards in a local competition sponsored by the American Advertising Federation-Waco chapter (AAF). In addition, in 2014, the magazine earned a platinum MarCom Award, which is administered and judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP). The Baylor AR App and the BBR iPad App each received gold MarCom Awards. The magazine was awarded two 2013 Communicator Awards sponsored by the International Academy of the Visual Arts (IAVA) as well as silver Communicator Awards for the magazine website and iPad app.
The magazine’s website earned a silver 2014 W3 Award, and the iPad app earned two silver W3 Awards. The W3 Awards are sanctioned and judged by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts (AIVA). The app was named one of three finalists in OMMA MediaPost’s 2013 Appy Awards and has garnered over 2,719 downloads from more than 62 different countries. The BBR app was ranked #65 out of all free business iPad apps in the U.S. on the iTunes App Store shortly after its release. In 2014, the app was named MobileWebAward’s 2014 Best University App. All awards were shared with Pollei DesignWorks and Baylor University’s Photography Department, and the app awards were also shared with App Studio-Quark (formerly PressRun).