Tatts Are Gambling On A Name Change? UBET!!

Tatts Group is rebranding their wagering division as UBET so we take a look at why and what could go wrong.

In the modern corporate world there is no decision bigger for an entity doing business in an established marketplace than rebranding itself. There have been far too many examples of rebranding failure for it to be seen by management teams as anything but a last resort, however with ever more accurate market prediction and forecast tools available often the last resort is far closer than you might imagine. It can often be seen as the way to head off issues ahead rather than merely draw a line under the past.

Some rebrands have been amazingly successful. In the UK the change from Marks & Spencer, a department store chain that had become bogged down with the taint of old ladies fashions and attitudes, to simply M&S helped relaunch the entire image of the business. Apple computers ditched their famously rainbow colored logo in favor of the smooth shiny crystal motif that now adorns all their products, and Old Spice was reinvigorated by a campaign of Youtube videos and a distinctly crazy series of advertisements.

Of course for each of these successes there are some stunning failures. British Petroleum managed to rebrand themselves just months before Deep Water Horizon decided to spew vast quantities of oil into the environment (their new logo instantly lampooned mercilessly on the net) which rendered all the money spent wasted, Pepsi decided to get a new angle on their logo which just made people think their can decoration machine was broken, and then there was Royal Mail.

Royal Mail is the biggest mail carrier in the UK, and, as the name perhaps indicates, has a bit of a heritage to it, but facing new competition after privatization, the management decided it needed to be modernized. Thus it was they spent $2.4 million on a rebrand as Consignia……and were instantly pilloried for doing so. Just a year after the rebrand they had to spend another $1.5 million to change their name back to Royal Mail. The waste of time, money and effort, manifest and evident.

The Risks Of Rebranding

A rebranding then typically takes one of two forms. Either there is a radical departure from the past, a differentiation to be made or a division between past and future that needs to be highlighted, or a morphing of the brand to be closer to how it is already perceived by the consumer. Old Spice might have gone from smooth to silly with great success, but Marks & Spencer played on the diminutive terms already used for their stores by people and simply bolted on extra expectation to that pre-existing acceptance of market presence.

A Tatts Rebrand? You Bet!

• Tatts Group rebrands in face of competition
• Queensland franchise secured
• Mobile betting app being launched

Both increased business for the companies involved, but they were nothing alike, and even once you decide which path to take, automatically assuming it will be a success is akin to betting when abroad one won’t meet any foreigners. It is important that a corporate entity be aware not just of how they wish to be perceived after the rebrand, but also how they are currently seen and thought of, lest the advertising agencies’ and PR firms’ ideas are too incongruous for the consumer to easily accept.

The goals are always the same, the routes to get there very different, and a company looking at a rebrand of itself in any market undertakes such radical strategy with one eye on the prize and the other very much on public reaction, especially in these days of facebook, twitter and what appears to be a growth industry of semi-professional outrage across the internet. In every case they are each gambling news of their rebrand will not alienate their business base.

This applies as much to the gaming industry as any other, and in Australia the lottery and wagering company Tatts Group is just now moving to rebrand its betting business under the name “UBET” in place of the somewhat tatty TattsBet. Due to be phased in quickly during the early part of 2015 on the face of it this seems a rebrand very much in the M&S mold rather than that of radical departure with it’s connotations of slang use in situations of guarantee or certainty.

Does Cooke Have The Right Ingredients?

“We’ve got a two year horizon in our minds for an intense repositioning of our business.” Said Mr. Robbie Cooke, Tatts chief executive, of the rebranding and modernization strategy they’re undertaking. “UBET is a great, punchy name. It’s embracing where the business is heading and that’s making sure we have a vibrant, live, young brand that responds both to racing and sport to be used across all our customer touch points.”

And those customer touch points needed updating. Doing 70% of it’s business from retail outlets the company’s high-street presence was in need of an overhaul, and indeed there will be an emphasis on new “flagship” stores, and a makeover for the rest. The winning of the Queensland wagering franchise under regulation and the eminently sensible Australian gambling laws, gave it the revenue to do so without hurting profits, however the biggest change will be digital.

The new website design, an integral part of any rebrand in this day and age, aimed to not only simplify the process whereby punters could place a wager, but to unify the various platforms upon which they do so. A site that is configured to be as accessible by a smartphone or tablet as it is by a desktop PC is all important and coupled with a new mobile app gives the company an overarching digital presence within the marketplace allowing an increase in internet betting in Australia.

In the last financial year Tatt’s betting took in 642.3 million AUD, which is a 2% fall on the previous 12 months, worse still earnings fell 7.4% to a skant 144.1 million AUD and the company is facing a game of catchup as they failed to react swiftly to a rapid increase in competition over the last decade. This rebrand seeks to address all of these issues, however given they’ve done very little intensive marketing in the past, it’ll be interesting to see how this exercise plays out and whether they can reverse the trend.