Rank looks to widen appeal with new brands

The Rank Group will launch a number of new brands in the coming months as the firm looks to widen its digital appeal beyond its more traditional Mecca and Grosvenor customer base.

Speaking to analysts following the publication of its H1 results this morning, Rank CEO Henry Birch said the new brands, which will include a new slots site and the previously announced omni-channel Luda bingo brand, would enable the firm to reach out to the lucrative millennial generation.

Birch said its current brands, such a Mecca, tended to limit the firm to “a certain demographic”, while he also noted that online bingo as a product had been struggling not just at Rank but industry-wide.

The chief exec said digital customers tended to play on four or five different sites, and therefore having a larger number of brands would boost Rank’s share of customer wallet, while also opening up the opportunity to cross-sell customers between brands.

However, Birch revealed the firm had been “frustrated” in its attempts to open Luda-branded convenience-style bingo establishments, with two planning applications recently rejected by local councils.

The former William Hill man said a number of alternative applications remained in process but that the firm hadn’t ruled out either buying premises that already had a gambling licence, and/or converting current Mecca and Grosvenor properties.

Birch concluded he was “bullish” about the online division’s prospects, which posted 11% revenue growth during the first six months of its financial year, with its new Bede platform having enabled it to add half a dozen new content suppliers to improve its digital product.