Do name changes like GVC Holdings PLC’s to Entain PLC help companies escape sins of the past?
With the Ladbrokes owner aiming to increase its file on dependable gambling, the rebrand may also be an endeavor to mend its community image, not a initial in the heritage of corporate renaming
Ladbrokes owner PLC () introduced on Thursday morning that it is switching its title to Entain PLC as component of a slight strategic change less than its new chief executive Shay Segev.
The go comes as the FTSE 100 firm, which also owns the Sportingbet, Cunning Bingo, bwin and Get together Poker, stated ninety nine% of its income will be from controlled marketplaces by the finish of the calendar year, up from 96% at this time, and it aims to make this 100% by 2023 by ducking out of any ‘grey’ marketplaces.
Examine: GVC Holdings to alter title to Entain PLC and exit unregulated marketplaces
GVC’s rebrand also appears to be to be component of a go to ‘turn around a new leaf’ and increase its community perception, with the firm also organizing to donate £100mln around the future 5 several years to neighborhood projects, together with supporting grassroots activity, and instal wider dependable gambling controls into its platform.
With dilemma gambling and the sponsorship of sports teams by betting companies ever more attracting headlines and the ire of regulators, and ESG investing fears ever more dominant, it appears to be like a prudent go from a PR and trader relations point of view.
Rebranding to mend your community image is nothing new for the UK’s main companies, with the title alter of Royal Bank of Scotland to Natwest Team PLC () in July found as an occasion of the firm making an attempt to split with its harmful earlier next a series of scandals next the 2008 financial disaster payment protection insurance policies (PPI), price repairing and the conduct of its World-wide Restructuring Team (GRG) enterprise device.
It was a related tale for accountancy firm Arthur Anderson, which observed its track record remaining in tatters next its part in the individual bankruptcy of US strength big Enron. The firm was then dismembered and its consultancy arm renamed in 2001.
When a rebrand goes wrong
Potentially a single of the far more famous examples of a rebrand messing up wholly also originated in 2001 with the title alter of Royal Mail Team PLC () to ‘Consignia’ as component of a tactic by then chief executive John Roberts to broaden the scope of the enterprise and endeavor to drive into worldwide marketplaces.
The £2mln charge to rebrand and then un-rebrand turned an prompt laughing stock and lasted all around sixteen months just before it was canned.
As the brainchild, Roberts also located himself remaining consigned to the record of former CEOs of the firm soon soon after.
Noteworthy successes
When Royal Mail botched its individual endeavor to use a rebrand as a form of corporate enlargement, tech big Apple Inc () was far more prosperous. When originally known as Apple Computer systems, the title was shortened as the firm commenced to broaden into audio players with the iPod and sooner or later mobiles with the Iphone, giving its brand a broader go over for its new ranges.
Other rebrands have far more mundane objectives in head, this kind of as the 2015 rebrand of research engine big Google to ().
The tech firm shaped Alphabet as a guardian to the main research engine enterprise, which stays its premier asset, while also enabling it to scale the administration of its other enterprise arms, several of which include analysis & growth companies producing technology relevant to self-driving automobiles and other so-identified as ‘moon-shot’ projects.
