CASE STUDY

PENN Entertainment

Transforming a legacy casino brand into an omnichannel entertainment and gaming leader

Challenge

In 2021, the North American casino industry was at an exciting inflection point, with advancements in technology and the expansion of online gaming. Penn National Gaming was best known as a regional casino operator—but its leaders had the ambition to be at the forefront of the industry’s transformation.  

With the rapid growth in their online gaming business, the recent acquisition of theScore, and an upcoming acquisition of Barstool Sports, they were redefining their business and its frame of reference in the industry.  

Penn National Gaming’s brand was not poised for these shifts. The legacy corporate identity was rooted in a gaming- and US-focused name and traditional casino visuals. More broadly, the brand lacked meaningful relevance with consumers and prospective employees, inhibiting growth with younger generations and struggling to connect with the innovative talent it needed to support its transformation. 

Penn National Gaming turned to Prophet to help re-introduce the organization to the world and transform the brand to better communicate and connect with its employees, investors, regulators, partners and consumers. 

Solutions

We guided the organization’s c-suite leaders through a series of interactions and data-driven assessments, which helped us determine that the corporate brand should evoke the company’s ambition, resonate with employees and build trusted category leadership. This led us to a new name for the organization: PENN Entertainment. 

We then developed a new, simplified brand architecture model that enables PENN to organize complicated entities and offerings. We delineated clear roles and audiences for each level of the brand structure, which helped simplify and streamline the brand-building efforts and provide more equity across the organization’s ecosystem.  

Finally, we helped communicate the new brand with a comprehensive launch, developing a concise narrative and high-impact visuals that introduce PENN’s unique identity, ambitions and strategies. 

Results

Thanks to this broad approach, Prophet helped bring PENN Entertainment’s new story to life with internal employee videos, workforce engagement, corporate development materials, a refreshed corporate website and investor presentations.  

The new corporate brand enables PENN to demonstrate its unique positioning and assets for employees, investors, partners and regulators as it moves forward in today’s fast-changing gaming and entertainment industry. 