Say goodbye to the FanDuel logo with the script font that helped usher in the rise of daily fantasy sports.
FanDuel announced a rebrand on Monday morning, going with a new look and color scheme ahead of the fantasy football season.
It also introduced a “players bill of rights,” a set of measures that generally align with regulations that are being rolled out in jurisdictions across the US.
“The past year has been tumultuous for this industry but FanDuel has emerged stronger than ever and we are ready to lead the industry forward,” said FanDuel CEO Nigel Eccles in a press release.
“The new FanDuel brand reflects our commitment to transparency, innovation and enhancing the user experience. We are confident it will showcase what we have to offer to all sports fans.”
FanDuel also formally confirmed its plans to launch a fantasy platform in the UK after recently receiving its gambling license there.
Finally, FanDuel also announced it would be offering a “new season-long fantasy product” later in August.
The rebrand of FanDuel
The rebrand is a major change of the site’s aesthetic, although the lobby and game mechanics are largely the same. The website and mobile app feature a “more user-friendly layout,” FanDuel said via press release.
The big change is the logo, which is reminiscent of the old FanDuel font while looking much more modern. Also gone is the iconic green that has long been a part of its color scheme, replaced with a light blue.
It also incorporates a shield into the design, explained by FanDuel:
The new logo, the emblematic FanDuel Shield, represents strength and, given the long history of the shields use in sports, reflects FanDuel as a premier sports and entertainment brand.
As part of the rebrand, FanDuel also has a new marketing campaign that is focused on “enriching emotional experiences associated with sports.”
More from FanDuel:
FanDuel players understand that the greatest benefits of fantasy sports are the camaraderie, competition and excitement it adds to the sports fan experience, and this marketing campaign highlights those benefits.
Why the rebrand now for FanDuel?
The ideas being highlighted in the new market campaign, of course, are far different from the campaigns that FanDuel and DraftKings bombarded sports fans with last year. Those ads often focused on how much money players could win (a tack they shifted away from later in the year.)
Those ads, of course — both because of the monetary figures being thrown around and the sheer volume of commercials — helped lead to a lot of legal and legislative scrutiny the sites experienced starting late in 2015. FanDuel and DraftKings last year paid hundreds of millions of dollars on TV ad spend, with both taking turns as the No. 1 spender nationwide on a weekly basis.
The two sites grew their user bases considerably — at least during NFL season — thanks to the TV blitz. But there was also a lot of negative reaction to the ads, on social media. Presenting TV viewers and NFL fans with an entirely new look from top to bottom likely played some role in the decision to rebrand.
The FanDuel bill of rights
FanDuel also rolled out a “bill of rights” to be more upfront with players about the user experience, beyond just its terms of service.
Not mentioned by FanDuel is that it will largely be beholden to the provisions in its bill of rights by regulatory laws that are starting to come on board now after six different states laws. (And based on regulations enacted by the attorney general in Massachusetts.)
Among the provisions, which are partially a rewrite of those fantasy sports laws:
- A ban on third-party scripts.
- Segregation of player funds from operational funds.
- “Experienced” and “highly experienced” players are identified in contests.
- Employees are barred from playing in contests.
- Players can limit or exclude themselves from playing.
You can see the entire bill of rights here.
The FanDuel season-long and UK products
The season-long product is not available yet. It will be called “Friends Mode” which “will give users the ability to play against their friends every week of the NFL season.”
No new details were offered on the UK product, although we already learned earlier this summer it will not be a direct port of the US product.
