Ubet Tab App
It was the unsexy digital and back-end challenges of rebranding UBET to TAB, rather than the tranche of customer-facing programs, which proved the bigger deal for the wagering company’s marketing team.
Earlier this year, TAB formally abandoned the UBET moniker and kicked off a major rebrand across Queensland, South Australia, Northern Territory and Tasmania. It was the first consumer-facing change implemented since the merger of UBET owner, Tatts Group, with Tabcorp.
The rebrand saw UBET’s physical presence - 1300 agency, venue and racecourse outlets – along with its digital assets and mobile app replaced with the TAB wagering stamp. The latter business has its heritage in NSW, Victoria and the ACT.
As TAB executive general manager of marketing and customer, Luke Waldren, told CMO, the decision was a natural and simple one. Having experienced several years of decline, UBET was on a burning platform, and a three-year transformation plan had begun.
TAB ACT means Tabcorp ACT Pty Ltd (ABN 19 167 957 002); TAB Active means a betting application provided in conjunction with Sky Racing Channel which may enable you to place bets with UBET using your pay-television remote control and your relevant Account (if available); TAB App means TAB's iPhone App, iPad App and Android App. FIND YOUR FAVOURITE FOOD & RESTAURANTS Order food from nearby restaurants and search by cuisine, restaurant name, dish, meal. The Uber Eats app offers a.
“TAB enjoyed significant levels of awareness, even in states it wasn’t operating in prior to the merger, which made it easy to decide on the brand direction,” Waldren said. “It was necessary to have one national brand and create as much efficiency around delivering that brand as we could.”
However, it was equally clear seamless transition must be the order of the day for UBET customers.
“From the outset, we were engaging with customers before we got anywhere near operationalising that change,” Waldren said. “That was important, as it was those insights driving the messaging we eventually took to market.
“What customers told us is they were overwhelmingly focused on us not making it difficult, and not getting in their way. It had to be seamless. Within that, there was a strong theme of not changing anything - in the way they interacted, and way they do things. UBET customers knew the TAB brand and its legacy, so while we could call it what we wanted, it was important not to alter the experience for them as customers.”
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The resulting campaign launched in January and centred around the line: ‘UBET is becoming TAB, it’s not a big deal’. This was followed up with an emphasis on big deals such as new products or offers like extra vision and better form guides, making the experience better.
“We thought it was reflective of an Australian brand not to overegg the fact we are changing the name,” Waldren said. “In-store, with the betting experience and staff remaining the same, the marketing team took a tongue-in-cheek approach to point-of-sale and livery, again reinforcing this theme the rebrand wasn’t a big deal.
“We knew these were the sorts of tangible, simple things customers wanted to know wouldn’t be pulled out from under their feet.”
Waldren’s team also worked to ensure every customer was well aware of the rebrand before it became visible. This included a direct-to-customer program four weeks prior to launching above-the-line activities. Communications were designed to embed the name change while emphasising existing experiences, and included FAQs on logins, features and functions.
“By the time we got to launch day, every customer had been informed more than once about the imminent change,” Waldren said. “This reinforced the seamlessness of it. And in fact, a lot of change would happen automatically. Digital customers just updated the app and continued as they were.”
In January, TAB kicked off a major ABL push, starting with a nine-page consecutive advertising run in News Corp newspapers across Queensland, South Australia, Northern Territory and Tasmania.
“This was intentionally and deliberately a big splash using localised print assets to drive the message on one day, and announce TAB had arrived,” Waldren said.
Print was supported by TV, radio, search, paid social and performance media. In addition, TAB used the Gold Coast Magic Millions Summer Carnival as a central events platform. Its refrigerated box onsite, dubbed the ‘TAB Cold Coast’, gained widespread publicity and was complemented by advertising across the Gold Coast.
“Over that four-week period, we basically turned the Gold Coast green,” Waldren added.
The real challenge: Digital and tech
The rebrand communications and campaign was a hefty undertaking. Yet something else sat at the top of Waldren’s complexity list.
Notably, UBET and TAB operated their own customer databases, mobile apps, digital portals and technology stacks, including distinct analytics platforms (Adobe and Google Analytics, respectively). While these will be unified over the coming 1-2 years, for now, Waldren’s team are running two websites, tech stacks and apps, both branded TAB.
“There is a big degree of difficulty in ensuring we are delivering the best messages, at the right time and in the right location. The enormity of it was the big challenge,” Waldren explained. “The change in the brand is one thing and what everyone saw – and for me, it’s something that has to be well planned, and operations need to be executed well. But behind the scenes, there’s this whole other layer of complexity to be managed.
“What kept me awake at night wasn’t the advertising message, offer, deployment of that work or program around changing the branding. It was the online customer journey. Things like having two apps in the app store, both branded TAB, had the most likelihood of bringing this undone.
“Just think about degree of complexity when it comes to search, performance media, app store advertising and search in the app store – there are lot of layers and jurisdictions. For example, if I search in Queensland, I need to ensure the right message and app gets served up.”
Adding further complexity are legacy brands and affinities such as UBET’s former branding, TattsBet, which had retained high volumes of search traffic. “Those searching for TattsBet, for example, had to be captured and come through the right journey,” Waldren said.
“So talking with two different languages was where most the challenges were. The risk for customers going on the wrong journey was really high. It’s not sexy work, but necessary.”
Uniting Tabcorp and Tatts Group at a technology level is of course a whole-of-company exercise. Waldren cited enormous effort to manage legacy systems and processes to ensure customers get a good outcome.
Several digital enhancements for former UBET customers came with the rebrand, including a bigger range of Sky Racing vision, better access to race replays and a more comprehensive form guide across the app and website. Integrations in the first year, meanwhile, include fixed odds operations and risk management systems, digital commissions in retail networks and some product expansions including international racing and sport and higher-yielding multi-products.
The technological platforms remain separate until after the 2019 spring racing season is over, when all will be migrated to the TAB platform. Full alignment is due in FY2021.
Up next: The cultural factors of rebranding, plus measures of success
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TattsBet have rebranded to UBET!
UBET, formerly known as TattsBet, represents the wagering division of Tatts Group.
UBET (TattsBet) is the provider of totaliser and Fixed Odds betting products in Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory. It merged with UNiTAB Limited in 2006, the previous owner-operator of the TABs in Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory.
In 2011 Tatts agreed to buy the Tasmanian TAB (known as Tote Tasmania) for $103 million from the Tasmanian government.
Other brands that fall under the Tatts Group umbrella include the following lotto services: Tatts, Golden Casket and NSW Lotteries.
Tatts Betting
Along with the tote services, Tatts offers a range of products on sports and racing with Fixed Odds betting available on Thoroughbred, Harness and Greyhound racing. The tote pools that are operated by Tatts are combined together.
The Tatts Tote is one four totaliser pools that operate in Australia, with NSW TAB and VIC TAB and the WA TAB.
Fixed Odds betting is growing in popularity and is offered in conjunction with the traditional tote options for win and place betting on most racing across the three racing codes.
Along with racing, Tatts offer wagering on a range of sports - both local and international - including Rugby League, Rugby Union, Soccer, Australian Rules and many more.
Tatts History
The history of Tattersalls began with in 1981 when publican George Adams first took bets on horse racing. But it was actually lotto gambling products that really gave Tatts is start and subsequent edge in gaming and wagering. The lottery business initially started in Tasmania with the support of the government before spreading to other states. The first televised lottery occurred in 1972, with a prize pool of $50,000 on offer. In 1994, OzLotto became the first nationwide lottery draw.
Racing and Sports wagering have now become a much larger part of the Tatts operation, proving a strong supplement to the traditional lotto products.
In November 2014, Tattsbet was rebranded as UBET in nationwide overhaul of their wagering division.