Rebranding: Why You Need It and How to Do It

Every brand eventually faces the need for change. The extent of these changes depends on a variety of factors, which we will explore in this article. We will also provide some useful tips on how to carry out rebranding to ensure it’s as effective as possible.

Types of Rebranding

In different sources, you might come across various concepts and terms related to rebranding. For instance, some experts may refer to a specific set of actions as rebranding, while using terms like “brand rejuvenation” or “brand revitalisation” for a more general concept. Here, however, we will use the more familiar term — simply “rebranding.”

So, why do companies rebrand, and how do you rebrand a company or a product under different conditions?

Brand Refresh

This type of rebranding involves purely visual changes to the brand, without altering its underlying meaning.

Brand refreshes can be further divided into subcategories based on the significance of the changes:

• Radical Redesign: The brand’s visual identity is completely overhauled. This is rarely seen in its pure form because such significant changes are usually driven by shifts in the brand’s values, which would constitute a full rebranding rather than just a refresh.
• Successive Redesign: A significant number of identity elements are altered, and new ones are added, but the overall result still resembles the old identity, making the brand easily recognisable to its audience.
• Facelifting: A minor change affecting one or two elements of the brand’s identity, giving the visual appearance a fresh look, but remaining almost imperceptible to the audience.

Key reasons for a brand refresh:

• Outdated Appearance: Design trends and audience preferences constantly evolve, which can make a brand that was modern and stylish yesterday appear outdated tomorrow.
• Changes in the Competitive Landscape: The brand may face new competitors using similar colours and symbols, making the brand appear less fresh and original.
• Changes in Communication Channels: The company’s marketing strategy might require the use of brand assets in formats not considered during the initial development of the visual elements, leading to poor visual performance on these new platforms. Most likely, a land-based casino will have to do this when launching an online project. For example, many car brands have done this, as their classic logos with metal-like textures were difficult to use in digital channels.
• Changes in Context: Significant events can alter the perception of a brand’s visual identity. For example, brands using the image of the Twin Towers in their identity were forced to redesign after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, because it became too sensitive for the audience.

Brand Repositioning

There are cases where the brand’s meaning evolves, but the logo, brand colours, fonts, and other visual elements remain unchanged or nearly unchanged.

For instance, in 2010, Old Spice underwent a repositioning without a significant change in design. Previously, the brand targeted a middle-aged and older audience, but observing the success of competitors like Axe, they shifted their communication style to appeal to younger consumers. As a result, Old Spice introduced bold and even provocative advertisements that became popular among young people as memes.

Repositioning a brand without any changes to its identity is also quite rare. However, brands sometimes face the need to signal changes in their value system. This is most common among brands with a long and rich history, where it’s important to emphasise that they are evolving in line with progressive changes in social values. For example, in 2019, the beer brand Budweiser re-drew its 1950s advertising posters, which would be considered sexist today. The style of the posters remained the same, but their content was updated.

Main reasons for a brand repositioning:

• Changes in the structure of the target audience.
• Significant shifts in the company’s business model.
• Changes in the cultural context in which the brand operates.

Full Rebranding

In a full rebranding process, both the visual identity and the brand’s meaning are changed, sometimes even to the extent of altering the brand’s name. Often, the changes are so radical that the new brand bears little resemblance to the old one. Rebranding requires careful preparation and planning, as well as significant financial resources.

Reasons for rebranding:

• Major changes in the scale of the business, such as expansion into new markets or a company merger.
• Significant declines in engagement and customer activity.
• Major shifts in the company’s operations, where the current brand no longer reflects the essence of the business.
• Mistakes made during the development of the current brand, which now severely hinder communication with the audience. For example, a complicated or unpleasant-sounding name.
• An event that negatively impacts the current brand’s reputation.

One example of full rebranding is the rebranding of Facebook in 2021. Initially, the company was named after its main and only product—the social network Facebook. However, over the years, the company’s product portfolio expanded to include numerous products. At the same time, the company decided to shift its focus to the virtual and augmented reality project “The Metaverse”. A series of public scandals involving Facebook also played a role. As a result, the brand Meta Platforms was born.

Rebranding in iGaming: Examples

In 2019, the betting and iGaming operator Paddy Power Betfair underwent a large-scale rebranding, renaming itself as Flutter Entertainment, after the betting exchange the corporation had acquired in 2001. One of the main goals was to reflect the growing number of consumer brands in its portfolio.

In 2020, as part of its new growth strategy, GVC Holdings, a company in the gambling and betting sector, announced a rebranding and adopted the name Entain. The new brand was intended to reflect changes in the holding’s business and the industry as a whole.

That same year, PokerStars actively worked on repositioning. Their aim was to move beyond the poker segment and expand their communication to reach people who had never played poker before. They also refreshed their brand identity.

In the spring of 2023, 888 Holdings embarked on a rebranding, changing its name to Evoke. Essentially, a corporate brand was created to unite all employees of the corporation. At the same time, the consumer-facing brands remain the same: 888casino, 888sport, 888poker, Mr Green, and others.

A more recent example is the rebranding of GiG Media to Gentoo Media. The new brand was named after resilient Antarctic penguins and reflects the company’s success through unity and adaptability.

It is also interesting to look at the evolution of the iGaming event organiser brand SiGMA. Previously, the company experienced rapid organic growth, leading to several structural issues with the brand. The solution was found in repositioning and updating their visual identity.

Although iGaming as a whole has a range of issues related to underestimating the importance of thoroughly developing the visual aspect of branding, the industry’s brands are evolving naturally, marketing strategies are being updated, and consequently, there are periodically good rebranding case studies.

How Much Does Rebranding Cost?

The cost of rebranding consists of the development of the rebranding concept and its implementation.

Prices for developing a concept vary greatly in the market, even within a single country. This depends on three main factors:

• Brand Scale: The more brand assets there are, the more expensive it will be to develop the visual concept and implement it. If you only have a poker room, and the brand interacts with the audience solely online, costs will be minimal. If you have a complex of interconnected brands covering online and offline casinos, hotels, and more, you should prepare for much higher costs.
• The Scope of Work to be Done by the Contractor: A large amount of research and comprehensive marketing analysis can significantly increase the final cost.
• Quality of Preparatory Work: The less clearly you define the objective of the rebranding at the outset and the less thoroughly you conduct your research, the more iterations of the new brand will be required later on to achieve the desired result. This will inevitably extend the timeline and increase the costs involved.

Let’s look at the options you have for choosing a contractor to develop your rebranding project.

1. In-House Team

If you have a strong marketing team with branding specialists, you can do everything in-house: do research, develop a value system, and create an appropriate visual concept.

Pros:

• Minimal financial costs.
• Full control over the rebranding project.

Cons:

• High organisational resource expenditure and heavy workload on employees working on the project.
• The risk of failure is higher compared to other options, as your team is likely less experienced than specialists who work on branding projects regularly.
• An external perspective on the brand is always more effective than an internal one. Internal teams often tend to make what they believe are safer decisions, which can result in a less impactful outcome.

Suitable for: Companies confident in their team’s abilities and unable to afford significant spending on branding.

Costs: Regular salaries for your employees, plus possibly bonuses for the results achieved.

2. Hiring a Design Studio

A design studio will help you develop the visual aspect of the brand according to the brief you provide. Such a studio will create a nice logo and other brand identity elements, as well as adapt them for various assets.

Pros:

• Low costs.
• High control over the project.
• The quickest result.

Cons:

• Design studios don’t immerse themselves in the business; they simply create the design they were commissioned to do. As a result, they might produce something unsuitable for the client, or the brand could end up looking dull.
• You will need to develop the brand’s positioning and all the conceptual content yourself, as well as carry out all the preparatory work.

Suitable for: Small businesses that do not require a complex brand and use a limited number of brand assets and communication channels with the audience.

Costs: In the UK market, for example, you can find offers from decent design studios for small projects ranging from £120 to £450.

3. Hiring a Branding Agency

Agencies specialising in brand development offer a full range of services. Specialists will thoroughly familiarise themselves with your business, conduct research, and develop a rebranding concept. A good agency will be able to fully justify each decision made.

Pros:

• A new brand delivered as a turnkey solution. You can approach them with just a statement of the problem you want to solve through rebranding, and in the end, you’ll receive a fully developed project.
• The likelihood of a positive outcome is highest.
• Working with a well-known agency can in itself attract attention to your new brand.
• Good agencies also assist with project implementation. Sometimes they may even send their employees to temporarily join the client company’s team to train the in-house staff on how to implement the new brand identity. They may also do this during the research phase to gain a deeper understanding of the business.
• Your in-house team does not waste its resources on a large project and can fully focus on daily tasks.

Cons:

• The highest financial investment.
• Despite conducting thorough research, a branding agency cannot fully immerse itself in the client’s business, which means the result might not be entirely relevant. This could lead to the need for additional iterations.

Suitable for: Companies with complex businesses requiring a comprehensive communication system with their audience.

Costs: Depending on the scale of the project, prices range from £10,000 to £150,000.

How Much Money Will Rebranding Generate?

In 2020, Mastercard completed the simplification of its brand by removing text from its logo, leaving only the two overlapping circles. This move emphasised the recognisability and autonomy of the symbol as a global icon. The update was also accompanied by the launch of a new marketing strategy. As a result, in 2021, the company’s revenue increased by approximately 23% compared to 2020.

In 2021, Kia introduced a new logo and the slogan “Movement that Inspires.” The new design and positioning highlighted modern values and a commitment to innovation, which contributed to increased car sales and heightened global interest in the brand. That same year, Kia recorded a global sales growth of around 10%.

Around the same period, Facebook increased its revenue by 37% following a major rebranding, Burger King by 6.6%, Pfizer by 95%, and Volvo Cars saw a 5.6% rise in sales. These examples are encouraging, but it’s difficult to determine how much of this success can be attributed directly to rebranding. In the case of Pfizer, for example, the COVID-19 vaccine sales definitely played a major role.

A brand influences finances, but so do the quality of the product or service, how the brand is utilised, the efficiency of internal company processes, the quality of advertising activities, and many other factors. Therefore, branding agencies, if they promise profit growth at all, do so very cautiously.

Moreover, there is always the possibility of a negative outcome. A striking example is the 2009 rebranding of Tropicana juice. The advertising campaign for the new design cost $35 million. The investment did not pay off: juice sales dropped by 20%, resulting in losses of $30 million. The company announced a return to the old design just over a month after launching the juice in its new packaging.

Thus, any significant rebranding carries serious risks, so this step needs to be carefully considered and calculated.

When Is Rebranding Not Necessary?

Businesses usually consider rebranding when facing a problem. However, there are several situations where rebranding not only won’t solve the issue but might even make it worse.

1. Poor Product

The brand is a tool for communication between the company and its target audience. It’s a crucial aspect of the business, but not the only one. Before starting any development, it’s essential to analyse the situation and identify the source of the problem.

Rebranding should only be pursued if the problem lies in communication, rather than in the poor quality of the product or service. Otherwise, all the work and expenses associated with the rebranding will be in vain.

2. Competitors’ Rebranding

If your direct competitors have undergone a rebranding, it doesn’t mean you need to follow suit. They have likely done extensive preparatory work that you are unaware of. If you rush into rebranding, you risk looking worse by comparison.

Observe how the competitor’s audience reacts. Some may feel disoriented or dislike the rebranding, giving you an opportunity to launch a vibrant advertising campaign and attract that audience to your brand.

3. Immature Business

If you’re just starting to develop your business, rebranding might not be the best idea. A fledgling business is often fluid, so you risk spending a lot of money only to find that your brand soon no longer aligns with your operations and relationships with customers. At this stage, it’s better to allocate resources to refining processes.

Checklist: How Do You Rebrand a Company?

1. Research

When you encounter a problem that could be resolved by rebranding, the first step is to conduct a brand audit, survey both your current and target audiences, and study your competitors.

This will help you confirm whether the problem truly lies with the brand and identify its weaknesses.

2. Define Objectives

This may seem obvious, but it’s a crucial step. You need to clearly understand the objective of the rebranding—what result you want to achieve.

At this stage, it’s also important to set specific deadlines for all stages of the upcoming project. You might want to choose a symbolic date for the release of the new brand, such as the company’s anniversary.

3. Engage with Your Team

Once your contractor begins developing the concept, it’s important to inform your employees about the upcoming changes. Explain to the team why you’re undertaking a rebranding, where the company is heading, and so on.

It might be worth surveying to gather ideas for the new brand. This can be very useful for strengthening team spirit: employees won’t just be “spectators” of the changes; they’ll be actively involved in the process.

4. Update All Customer Touchpoints

You need to create a list of all the situations where your audience interacts with your brand and update all visual and verbal elements at these points. Examples of such touchpoints include:

• Domain name (website and email)
• Email signatures
• All social media accounts, including dormant ones (you also may need to create new pages)
• Document templates
• Merchandise
• Yellow Pages: update your information in directories, on Wikipedia, etc.
• For land-based casinos: table designs, chips, staff uniforms, hotel towels, etc.
• App icon.

It’s important to remember all the little details at this stage.

5. Inform Your Audience

After rebranding, your audience may feel disoriented, and some might not even realise that it’s still you. Therefore, if significant changes have been made to the brand, it’s crucial to inform the audience about them. This can be done in the form of a press release or a news update on your website.

It’s best to avoid directly asking your audience if they like your new look. Your brand is a marketing tool, and consumers don’t know how it works. Moreover, such a question encourages the consumer to take on the role of an expert and critic, even though they are not professionals in this field and don’t usually view brands from that angle. As a result, you risk receiving a lot of unwarranted negative feedback.

However, there are instances where you can ask your audience for direct feedback. For example, in 2019, Firefox invited their community to share their thoughts on their new identity. A key point here is that they presented interim versions of the branding and later refined the final design based on the feedback they received.

6. Evaluate the Results

After the project’s implementation, it’s necessary to assess what results it has brought and whether the objectives were met. This will help you understand how your new brand actually works and how to use it to achieve maximum effectiveness.

7. Continue Developing the Brand

The completed rebranding is not the end of the brand’s evolution. The new brand identity will continue to grow and adapt to circumstances over time. You may find yourself revisiting many of the stages described earlier periodically.

How to Evaluate the Success of a Rebranding?

Rebranding is a crucial aspect of a company’s marketing strategy, often reflecting broader changes within the organisation. This guide, prepared by Alexandra Voronetskaya, CMO at EvenBet Gaming, offers a comprehensive approach to assessing the effectiveness of a rebranding effort.

Rebranding is more than just a visual update; it’s a strategic move that can significantly affect a company’s market presence and revenue. Effective rebranding requires a detailed communication strategy to ensure the visual changes are properly conveyed to the target audience. This, in turn, can influence the company’s revenue and overall market impact.

Methods for Evaluating Rebranding Success

Evaluating the success of a rebranding effort involves assessing its impact on both revenue and brand awareness. Here’s how you can approach it:

1. Revenue Analysis

• Timeline: Measure revenue changes over a period of six months to a year.
• Link to Campaigns: Ensure that the assessment considers the impact of the communication or PR campaign associated with the rebranding.

2. Brand Awareness

• Visual Recognition: Assess visual recognition and spontaneous awareness of the brand.
• Timeline: Conduct measurements one year after the rebranding, as shorter periods may not yield reliable results.

Industry-Specific Metrics

For specialised industries, such as VR tours for medical training or investment brokerage, additional metrics should be considered:

• Target Audience Perception: Measure how the rebranding is perceived by the target audience through periodic surveys.
• Communication Cycle: Recognize that brand awareness and perception take time, typically 6-7 months to form.

Long-Term Measurement Strategy

Rebranding impacts should be evaluated over several years to ensure accuracy:

• Measurement Frequency: Conduct 3-5 measurements to align with the brand recognition cycle.
• Optimal Cycle: A 3 to 5-year cycle is recommended, depending on the industry specifics.

External Influences on Rebranding Success

Several factors can affect the outcome of a rebranding effort:

• Market Environment: Companies operate within a dynamic market influenced by political, economic, and social factors.
• Company Life Cycle: Rebranding can serve as a tool to revitalise a company and drive sales.
• Competition and Market Saturation: The level of competition and market maturity should be considered.

The Importance of a Comprehensive Communication Strategy

To achieve the desired results from rebranding, a well-crafted message delivery strategy is essential. Effective use of communication opportunities will enhance the impact of the rebranding effort.

By carefully evaluating these factors, companies can gain a clearer understanding of their rebranding success and make informed decisions for future marketing strategies.

Branding plays a vital role in the success of a project, including in the iGaming sector. Therefore, we have designed our products to be highly flexible and customisable, so any business launching an iGaming project using our software can fully implement their visual concept and verbal communication. To learn more, simply contact our managers.