February 16, 2025

Flynyc

Customer Value Chain

Do name changes like GVC Holdings PLC’s to Entain PLC help companies escape sins of the past?

With the Ladbrokes operator aiming to boost its file on responsible gambling, the rebrand could also be an try to repair service its public graphic, not a initially in the record of corporate renaming

Ladbrokes operator PLC () introduced on Thursday early morning that it is altering its name to Entain PLC as portion of a slight strategic change below its new main government Shay Segev.

The move will come as the FTSE a hundred business, which also owns the Sportingbet, Cunning Bingo, bwin and Party Poker, claimed 99% of its income will be from controlled markets by the close of the year, up from 96% at this time, and it aims to make this a hundred% by 2023 by ducking out of any ‘grey’ markets.

Browse: GVC Holdings to improve name to Entain PLC and exit unregulated markets

GVC’s rebrand also seems to be portion of a move to ‘turn around a new leaf’ and boost its public perception, with the business also planning to donate £100mln around the upcoming five a long time to community initiatives, including supporting grassroots activity, and instal wider responsible gambling controls into its system.

With challenge gambling and the sponsorship of sports teams by betting corporations significantly attracting headlines and the ire of regulators, and ESG investing fears significantly dominant, it seems like a prudent move from a PR and investor relations viewpoint.

Rebranding to repair service your public graphic is nothing new for the UK’s major corporations, with the name improve of Royal Bank of Scotland to Natwest Team PLC () in July viewed as an occasion of the firm attempting to split with its toxic past adhering to a sequence of scandals adhering to the 2008 fiscal crisis payment security coverage (PPI), amount repairing and the behaviour of its International Restructuring Team (GRG) company device.

It was a similar story for accountancy firm Arthur Anderson, which noticed its name still left in tatters adhering to its function in the bankruptcy of US power giant Enron. The business was then dismembered and its consultancy arm renamed in 2001.

When a rebrand goes wrong

Maybe just one of the more famous illustrations of a rebrand messing up entirely also originated in 2001 with the name improve of Royal Mail Team PLC () to ‘Consignia’ as portion of a system by then main government John Roberts to expand the scope of the company and try to push into worldwide markets.

The £2mln expense to rebrand and then un-rebrand became an instant laughing stock and lasted around sixteen months in advance of it was canned.

As the brainchild, Roberts also uncovered himself being consigned to the list of former CEOs of the firm shortly after.

Notable successes

While Royal Mail botched its very own try to use a rebrand as a type of corporate enlargement, tech giant Apple Inc () was more successful. While originally identified as Apple Computers, the name was shortened as the firm began to expand into songs gamers with the iPod and eventually mobiles with the Iphone, giving its manufacturer a broader cover for its new ranges.

Other rebrands have more mundane goals in brain, such as the 2015 rebrand of look for engine giant Google to ().

The tech firm fashioned Alphabet as a mum or dad to the main look for engine company, which continues to be its greatest asset, while also permitting it to scale the management of its other company arms, lots of of which consist of study & progress corporations making know-how connected to self-driving cars and trucks and other so-named ‘moon-shot’ initiatives.