CMO talks to the EGM of marketing overseeing the rebranding campaign and delves into the customer and well as cultural considerations key to achieving success
Another key to success was finding new ways of working, and Waldren said elements of agile methodology became a must.
“We had a consistent cadence to standups, and key people from across states working together in a way they hadn’t before. They’d not only just come together as two organisations, and had to bring two brands together. It required huge degrees of collaboration,” he commented.
Most consideration had to be around people, Waldren continued. “There were 30 people from UBET involved in the marketing effort around TAB as it is known now. They were emotionally invested and had spent five years in a hard slog trying to rebuild that former brand,” he said.
“We worked to ensure this stayed omnipresent and transparent in our conversations, and that we were respectful to the past. You can quickly get into a rhythm of emphasising how UBET was in decline, which can be a negative experience for staff. There was a conscious decision around drawing a line in the sand to say we’re moving forward, and this is the first step.”
What was less challenging was customer insight, and UBET and TAB customer segments were largely similar, albeit with slightly different labels and descriptions. The differences stemmed from brand purpose, positioning and personality, Waldren said.
“UBET’s brand was more masculine, and humour played more of a role. TAB is much broader in its appeal,” he said. In addition, with TAB’s long heritage onsite as well as its digital offering, the brand also commands a more elevated category position.
“That omnichannel capability allows us to have a different relationship with customers and that plays out in the brand personality. It also means we have a responsibility to be more mass and inclusive,” Waldren said.
Nearly three months on from completing the brand relaunch campaign, Waldren and the team have several markers of success. The first priority was to ensure customers transitioning to TAB found it easy and seamless. Post-launch quantitative studies showed 80 per cent agreed it was.
Spontaneous awareness of TAB pre and post-change also leaped 50 per after rebrand launch. Another granular element was lifting perceptions of TAB as a modern, trusted brand with great offers and promotions. Having sat 13 per cent behind UBET in those jurisdictions prior to rebranding, TAB came in 27 per cent ahead post-launch.
“On trust, which is critical in this category and incorporates everything from speed to ease of payments, security of data, responsible gambling and keeping customers safe, TAB went from 11 per cent behind to 22 per cent ahead post-launch,” Waldren said. “This reinforces the strength and perceptions around the TAB brand and helps rationalise the change.”
As technology integration is completed, TAB’s marketing team will kick off another phase of awareness and communication to reinforce the virtues of the TAB brand and new features.
“We’ll continued to reinforce the vision and form experience, and there’s a consistent value proposition now running across the entire customer group,” Waldren added. “The tech stacks coming together will make us stronger again and bring another raft of products, features and benefits to all customers.”
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