Do name changes like GVC Holdings PLC’s to Entain PLC help companies escape sins of the past?
With the Ladbrokes owner aiming to make improvements to its history on accountable gambling, the rebrand may perhaps also be an try to restore its general public graphic, not a very first in the record of company renaming
Ladbrokes owner PLC () announced on Thursday morning that it is transforming its identify to Entain PLC as element of a slight strategic change underneath its new chief executive Shay Segev.
The go will come as the FTSE one hundred firm, which also owns the Sportingbet, Foxy Bingo, bwin and Occasion Poker, said ninety nine% of its profits will be from controlled marketplaces by the conclusion of the 12 months, up from ninety six% at present, and it aims to make this one hundred% by 2023 by ducking out of any ‘grey’ marketplaces.
Read through: GVC Holdings to improve identify to Entain PLC and exit unregulated marketplaces
GVC’s rebrand also appears to be to be element of a go to ‘turn above a new leaf’ and make improvements to its general public perception, with the firm also planning to donate £100mln above the subsequent 5 years to neighborhood assignments, together with supporting grassroots activity, and instal wider accountable gambling controls into its system.
With difficulty gambling and the sponsorship of sports activities groups by betting firms progressively attracting headlines and the ire of regulators, and ESG investing fears progressively dominant, it appears to be like a prudent go from a PR and investor relations point of view.
Rebranding to restore your general public graphic is very little new for the UK’s major firms, with the identify improve of Royal Bank of Scotland to Natwest Team PLC () in July observed as an instance of the company trying to split with its toxic earlier next a sequence of scandals next the 2008 economic crisis payment security insurance policies (PPI), amount correcting and the conduct of its Global Restructuring Team (GRG) company unit.
It was a equivalent tale for accountancy company Arthur Anderson, which saw its standing remaining in tatters next its job in the bankruptcy of US electricity big Enron. The firm was then dismembered and its consultancy arm renamed in 2001.
When a rebrand goes wrong
Possibly one of the extra famous illustrations of a rebrand messing up absolutely also originated in 2001 with the identify improve of Royal Mail Team PLC () to ‘Consignia’ as element of a tactic by then chief executive John Roberts to expand the scope of the company and try to press into global marketplaces.
The £2mln price tag to rebrand and then un-rebrand grew to become an fast laughing inventory and lasted about sixteen months right before it was canned.
As the brainchild, Roberts also discovered himself getting consigned to the list of former CEOs of the company shortly after.
Notable successes
Though Royal Mail botched its own try to use a rebrand as a kind of company expansion, tech big Apple Inc () was extra thriving. Though initially identified as Apple Computer systems, the identify was shortened as the company began to expand into audio gamers with the iPod and finally mobiles with the Apple iphone, giving its brand name a broader include for its new ranges.
Other rebrands have extra mundane objectives in head, these kinds of as the 2015 rebrand of look for engine big Google to ().
The tech company fashioned Alphabet as a dad or mum to the core look for engine company, which remains its most significant asset, whilst also permitting it to scale the administration of its other company arms, quite a few of which include things like investigation & development firms building technological know-how linked to self-driving automobiles and other so-referred to as ‘moon-shot’ assignments.