Why did GiG Media want to separate from Gaming Innovation Group (GiG) in the first place?
GiG Media was part of GiG (Gaming Innovation Group) and it was decided by ownership a bit more than a year ago that they wanted to split the two. There’s been two sides of the business; one in affiliation, Gentoo (formerly GiG Media), and GiG Core as we call it internally, the platform and sportsbook side of the business. Since it was decided that they were to split, we could not have the same name anymore. That was basically the thought behind it – necessity. We had to do it. The reason behind splitting the two companies, and we might come back to this a little later, was for both companies to reach their full potential by focusing on the one thing they do best, and increase the value of each of the businesses. So essentially necessity was what was behind it.
How do you think the rebrand will allow you to develop your own identity and develop independently?
What it will do, first and foremost, is allow us to stand independently in our brand, which is important for any business. You need to communicate who you are and your values to excel in the field you are in. We will now be able to communicate more precisely from the affiliate part of the business, and it will be easier for us to tell the story of what we excel in, what areas of expertise we have, our offerings etc. It will be easier for everybody to understand that now we’re separated.
What does Gentoo mean? How is it symbolic to what the brand is now?
Gentoo is a penguin species and, for us, very symbolic for a number of reasons. First is the heritage we have in the company, originating from Rebel Penguin. Our CEO founded Rebel Penguin in 2007, which was later acquired by GiG and became a part of GiG Media, essentially. When creating and coming up with a name, you don’t look backwards, you want to look ahead. But we still have this penguin heritage that we like, so how can we come up with something that pays tribute to what we were, but also looks ahead? Gentoo was the perfect name.
Secondly, we wanted to create an umbrella brand that could cover all the brands we have, because we are a lot more than just an affiliation company. We have brands like AskGamblers, Time2Play and Casinomeister. There’s a lot that needs to fit under that umbrella. Thirdly, if you take Gentoo, the penguin species, they have to work together as a group to survive and thrive. We wanted to create something inviting, that’s symbolic of our penguin heritage, where you, even as a customer, can be part of our huddle. For example, as part of our new brand we have introduced our brand promise that with us, you get more. That applies to all aspects of the business, to go the extra mile in everything we do. Not just for our partners, and through the products and services we offer, but also in regards to our employees, our workplace and so forth.
In regards to the selection process of the name, it was our brand manager, Anna [Glowacki], who came up with the Gentoo name, but the legacy of penguins, from the Rebel Penguin days, comes from Jonas [Warrer], our CEO, who had this idea that penguins come together as a group. Alone, they would die from the cold, but they survive by coming together as a group, huddling up and working together. They collaborate to thrive and it’s just beautiful and symbolic for any group. Independently you can do very little, but if you collaborate, you can thrive. That is something we try to live by in every aspect of the company. We are also very aware that Gentoo can mean generation two as well. I like the playfulness, that duality in the name, symbolising a new era for the company.
When it came to rebranding, what were some challenges you faced that you didn’t expect?
A lot comes up when you do a thing like this. We have just short of 500 people, we’re a big company and there’s a lot of opinions, and obviously you want to involve people. But you also need a room where you make decisions. The intensity of commitment from everybody we involved has been almost emotional to a degree. Not in a bad way, in a good way – it touches you when people are so dedicated to accomplishing something with the brand.
We had to establish not just who we want to be, and how we would like to portrait ourselves, but who we actually are, to communicate a true, genuine view of ourselves as a brand. Therefore, we did extensive market research to make sure we came up with a name and values that were aligned with the perception of the company both internally and externally. What surprised me the most was the internal commitment and strong opinions people had about what we are like. I’m sure we all know that our day-to-day work sometimes just becomes what you do. It’s normal, you know? But there was so much passion and willingness to contribute to how we portray our business values, it was so important for people. That has been, I don’t know if you can call it a challenge, but it’s been a challenge to tackle because so many wanted to contribute.
Now that Gentoo is out on its own, how does it feel? We can only imagine it’s somewhere between nerves and excitement...
It’s funny you mention it because I’ve not been nervous at any point. I’ve been very excited to try to do everything. The team, they’ve worked immensely hard, probably a little too hard at times, but I’ve been very excited. I’ve also been very calm about it, because the research has shown us we are in a good state. There’s nothing to be worried about. We just had to focus our brand identity on who we are, stand by it and be true to ourselves.When working with brands, this should always be the starting point of every brand. Find out how you are perceived and work around that, decide if you want to emphasise the current perception, or if you want to change it etc. But we didn’t want to change ours, we wanted to emphasise exactly who we are.
It almost feels like you’ve moved out of your parents’ house, and now you can be who you want to be and do what you want to do. There’s that kind of excitement.
Absolutely and, to use that analogy, we’ve been collecting plates and forks and everything for a long time. So, there were not a lot of things that would catch us by surprise. We know what we’re doing. We’ve been cooking for ourselves for many years!
What are some things Gentoo is excited about now that it couldn’t do when it was part of GiG?
As I mentioned briefly before, the spinoff from GiG allows us to focus on what we do best and position ourselves as a pure media business, making it easier for everyone to understand our offering and area of expertise. We’re now able to step into something which is our own and position ourselves as the market leading affiliate we are.
Obviously, the split is made to increase shareholder value, but we also want to be clear in our messaging to our partners about what we do. You don’t contact Gentoo if you’re looking for a platform, we don’t do that. You contact Gentoo if you are an operator who wants to increase traffic to your website, increase your brand exposure and be associated with the prominent brands we own under the Gentoo umbrella. So this rebrand makes it easier for us to position ourselves and put our focus on what we want to do in the future.
