Do name changes like GVC Holdings PLC’s to Entain PLC help companies escape sins of the past?
With the Ladbrokes operator aiming to make improvements to its record on liable gambling, the rebrand could also be an attempt to repair service its public picture, not a initially in the background of corporate renaming
Ladbrokes operator PLC () declared on Thursday early morning that it is transforming its identify to Entain PLC as section of a slight strategic change beneath its new chief government Shay Segev.
The move comes as the FTSE 100 business, which also owns the Sportingbet, Cunning Bingo, bwin and Bash Poker, explained 99% of its revenue will be from regulated markets by the close of the year, up from 96% presently, and it aims to make this 100% by 2023 by ducking out of any ‘grey’ markets.
Examine: GVC Holdings to change identify to Entain PLC and exit unregulated markets
GVC’s rebrand also looks to be section of a move to ‘turn over a new leaf’ and make improvements to its public perception, with the business also planning to donate £100mln over the following 5 yrs to local community tasks, together with supporting grassroots sport, and instal wider liable gambling controls into its platform.
With trouble gambling and the sponsorship of athletics groups by betting firms progressively attracting headlines and the ire of regulators, and ESG investing considerations progressively dominant, it looks like a prudent move from a PR and trader relations viewpoint.
Rebranding to repair service your public picture is nothing new for the UK’s key firms, with the identify change of Royal Financial institution of Scotland to Natwest Team PLC () in July noticed as an instance of the firm trying to break with its poisonous earlier subsequent a sequence of scandals subsequent the 2008 monetary disaster payment safety insurance (PPI), level fixing and the conduct of its Global Restructuring Team (GRG) business enterprise device.
It was a related story for accountancy firm Arthur Anderson, which saw its track record left in tatters subsequent its role in the personal bankruptcy of US strength giant Enron. The business was then dismembered and its consultancy arm renamed in 2001.
When a rebrand goes wrong
Maybe a person of the far more renowned examples of a rebrand messing up entirely also originated in 2001 with the identify change of Royal Mail Team PLC () to ‘Consignia’ as section of a tactic by then chief government John Roberts to increase the scope of the business enterprise and attempt to push into worldwide markets.
The £2mln price tag to rebrand and then un-rebrand became an prompt laughing stock and lasted close to sixteen months right before it was canned.
As the brainchild, Roberts also located himself getting consigned to the list of previous CEOs of the firm shortly just after.
Noteworthy successes
When Royal Mail botched its very own attempt to use a rebrand as a sort of corporate enlargement, tech giant Apple Inc () was far more successful. When originally regarded as Apple Desktops, the identify was shortened as the firm commenced to increase into tunes gamers with the iPod and inevitably mobiles with the Apple iphone, supplying its brand a broader include for its new ranges.
Other rebrands have far more mundane aims in thoughts, this sort of as the 2015 rebrand of research motor giant Google to ().
The tech firm formed Alphabet as a dad or mum to the core research motor business enterprise, which remains its premier asset, while also enabling it to scale the management of its other business enterprise arms, quite a few of which include investigation & advancement firms developing technologies connected to self-driving cars and trucks and other so-identified as ‘moon-shot’ tasks.