IRB name change

The 'IRB' the sport's governing body will soon to be known as 'World Rugby' from November.
 
Why?

http://www.irb.com/newsmedia/mediazone/pressrelease/newsid=2072837.html#irb+change+name+world+rugby

Bruce Craig wanted the name change.

They should be called the Incompetant Rugby Board.

Wouldnt Rugby league take offence to them using that title.

They should be called the Rolling Stones: Old farts who've had their moment in the sun but now need to hand over to the younger generation.

Can't say I have any great love and affection for "the IRB", so I'm not really fussed.

Mind you, it would be interesting to know how much the rebranding costs, and the marketing theory behind the new name.

The Saint wrote:Bruce Craig wanted the name change.

If that was the case they'd be calling it SPECTRE

Scrumpy wrote:The 'IRB' the sport's governing body will soon to be known as 'World Rugby' from November.
 
Why?

http://www.irb.com/newsmedia/mediazone/pressrelease/newsid=2072837.html#irb+change+name+world+rugby

There has been a trend over the last number of years to move to more descriptive titles of what these organisations do - for example in Ireland lots of governing bodies have changed to names like - Canoe Ireland (from Irish Canoe Union), Swim Ireland (I can't remember what they were called before that). The English Sports Council changed to Sport England.

There has been huge growth in rugby (according to that link). 2 million players in 4 years is good going. England can look forward to a playing boom after this one I'd imagine.

Global Rugby participation has boomed by more than two million to 6.6 million players over the past four years, driven by the commercial success of Rugby World Cup, the IRB’s development strategies and record investment, strong and vibrant Unions and Rugby’s re-inclusion in the Olympic Games.

With Rugby aspiring to inspire and engage new audiences and players around the world, the rebrand reflects the organisation’s mission to build a stronger connection with fans, players and new audiences worldwide.

I'd imagine that one of the reasons why Gosper got the CEO job of the IRB is probably down to his previous experience of Marketing & Brand Developoment & Management.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Gosper

Rugby Fan wrote:Can't say I have any great love and affection for "the IRB", so I'm not really fussed.

Mind you, it would be interesting to know how much the rebranding costs, and the marketing theory behind the new name.

Its rather simple - 'IRB'* are just a couple of letters. World Rugby communicates immediately what and who they are.

*'IRB' also stands for the 'Irish Republican Brotherhood'.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Republican_Brotherhood

So they aren't taking submissions for said name change?

So rather than being the IRB World Cup will the world cup be known as the World rugby world cup? Bit of a mouthful.

Personally I think there are a number of things around the world of rugby which were a higher priority to sort out than the name, but that's just me...

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:They should be called the Rolling Stones: Old farts who've had their moment in the sun but now need to hand over to the younger generation.

Isn't that a bit of a cliched comment nowadays? Pretty much all the Unions are well run organisations that turn a 'profit' to put back into the game (unlike some clubs around).

Yes Sin, its a terrible thing they share the acronym with an organisation that ceased to function in 1924. People who are looking to both travel back in time 90 years and try and find information about world rugby must be so confused by that!

Anyway, it's good to see the IRB are tackling the big issues. Ongoing controversy over residency qualification criteria, loopholes in national qualification criteria created by Sevens entering the Olympics, a lack of opportunities for Tier 2 rugby nations to play high-class test matches between World Cups- all pale in comparison to people not understanding the meaning of 'International Rugby Board'. Pat on the back.

All minor issues Notch.

Re-branding before a RWC is much more important!

Bathman_in_London wrote:So rather than being the IRB World Cup will the world cup be known as the World rugby world cup? Bit of a mouthful.

They should just call it the World Rugby Cup. Or the Rugby World Cup, as that seems more pleasing to our ears. OR the World Rugby Rugby World Cup. Yes, thats the winner!

Bathman_in_London wrote:So rather than being the IRB World Cup will the world cup be known as the World rugby world cup? Bit of a mouthful.

Personally I think there are a number of things around the world of rugby which were a higher priority to sort out than the name, but that's just me...

Nope. There will be no need to say its anyone's because now it will be the Rugby World Cup. In a similar situation with football:

FIFA's World Cup could be Football World Cup (instead of FiFA's).

The image here is of the IRB is a boardroom of old fuddy duddies whereas the IRB/World Rugby is now run by a team of professionals. The name change reflects that.

So why do their policies not reflect that?

Because they are a team of professionals fuddy duddies.

If this name change brings about the following clarifications I will be happy:

1) Nationality issue

2) Club and International seasons

3) Rugby matches and tournament structures between teams of different tiers.

Notch wrote:Yes Sin, its a terrible thing they share the acronym with an organisation that ceased to function in 1924. People who are looking to both travel back in time 90 years and try and find information about world rugby must be so confused by that!

Anyway, it's good to see the IRB are tackling the big issues. Ongoing controversy over residency qualification criteria, loopholes in national qualification criteria created by Sevens entering the Olympics, a lack of opportunities for Tier 2 rugby nations to play high-class test matches between World Cups- all pale in comparison to people not understanding the meaning of 'International Rugby Board'. Pat on the back.

My point is that initials are meaningless - they can mean anything. The Irish Republican Brotherhood was the one that matched the IRB which came to mind first.

I think you would need a different set of skills to be involved in branding/communications than deal with residency qual. criteria.

This rebranding exercise is probably a reflection of the IRB reorganising itself. FIRA-AER (now Rugby Europe) seems to be taking on more responsibility for countries outside the Top Tier. I think they are the ones who are running the Olympics Rugby Sevens.

How typically Anglo-centric that the IRB should move away from the word "International" that translates almost synonymously into most European languages to the word "World" that doesn't. Just the sort of change to show other countries they are being embraced.

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:So why do their policies not reflect that?

Which fuddy duddy policies are you referring to?

The Great Aukster wrote:How typically Anglo-centric that the IRB should move away from the word "International" that translates almost synonymously into most European languages to the word "World" that doesn't. Just the sort of change to show other countries they are being embraced.

They can manage to understand the useage of the word 'World' in the biggest sport on the planet, no?

FIFA isn't anglo-centric by any manner of means.

Maybe its to avoid confusion with Irish rugby?

Yes and only cos t £50 million a bargain?still the usual hegemony rich getting richer the rest
forget it.

maybe it was a copyright issue similar to the WWF being forced to change to the WWE?

Anything else listed as the IRB?

Everyone knows that FIRA-AER has changed it's name to Rugby Europe, right? Not surprised the IRB has gone the same way.

It should have been Team World Rugby- that has a nice overly-thought-through, a million buck a minute development fee, puketastic, plastic media friendly ring to it.

But no - they go safe and cheap!

BTW, it's time 606V2 got in on the 21st Century Title Clean Up - or Getting To Be Boring Now Ice Bucket challenge as it were.

I think it should be renamed Gossip Corner World....  or Team World Moan.

SecretFly wrote:It should have been Team World Rugby- that has a nice overly-thought-through, a million buck a minute development fee, puketastic, plastic media friendly ring to it.

But no - they go safe and cheap!

BTW, it's time 606V2 got in on the 21st Century Title Clean Up - or Getting To Be Boring Now Ice Bucket challenge as it were.

I think it should be renamed Gossip Corner World....  or Team World Moan.

606v2 could become something like Public Reaction Laboratory (or PRL, I don't think anybody has used that whizzy acronym)

Perfectly Rabid Loons....

Team World Rugby...

Why do I automatically go off into puppet land and daydream about the IRB rugbying terrorists to death to save the Eiffell tower?

Rugby, ruck yeah. Gonna save the motherrucking day yeah.

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:Rugby, ruck yeah. Gonna save the motherrucking day yeah.

hahaha

Does anyone else find it strange that the governing body of our sport is feeling the need to rebrand/appeal directly to people?

FIFA, worlds most successful governing body is not impeded by being FIFA.

PGA, or R&A do not feel that their TLAs impede the growth of golf

I think that the blazers are once again worried about their primacy at the centre of our sport.

FFS the sport is rugby. Who gives a poppie if the rules-setter is called IRB, World Rugby, or 560 old farts. The only people who will ever notice are those who are already fans of and engaged in the sports.

What a waste of money and patent display of blazer insecurity.

quinsforever wrote:Does anyone else find it strange that the governing body of our sport is feeling the need to rebrand/appeal directly to people?

FIFA, worlds most successful governing body is not impeded by being FIFA.

PGA, or R&A do not feel that their TLAs impede the growth of golf

I think that the blazers are once again worried about their primacy at the centre of our sport.

FFS the sport is rugby. Who gives a poppie if the rules-setter is called IRB, World Rugby, or 560 old farts. The only people who will ever notice are those who are already fans of and engaged in the sports.

What a waste of money and patent display of blazer insecurity.

Some ruddy consultant must have been paid pocketloads of money to come up with such a brilliant idea.  This is so stupid that I would expect it to come from a government agency somewhere, not from a bunch of Rugby guys.  Bloody hell, the end is nigh.

I know. I'm a big fan of being commercial, but wtf does the IRB sell directly to anyone?

quinsforever wrote:Does anyone else find it strange that the governing body of our sport is feeling the need to rebrand/appeal directly to people?

FIFA, worlds most successful governing body is not impeded by being FIFA.

PGA, or R&A do not feel that their TLAs impede the growth of golf

I think that the blazers are once again worried about their primacy at the centre of our sport.

FFS the sport is rugby. Who gives a poppie if the rules-setter is called IRB, World Rugby, or 560 old farts. The only people who will ever notice are those who are already fans of and engaged in the sports.

What a waste of money and patent display of blazer insecurity.

FIFA has only one brand of Association Football to deal with. With rugby you have League, 7s and 15s.

The growth of 7s is phenomenal (and could become massive after the Olympics) and I would guess that this is the sport that new comers will concentrate on. The IRB seem to be putting a lot of time and energy into 7s at the moment. And I really doubt if the established nations are really going to change too much - they completely control it and are way out of the others leagues (6Ns, + NZ, Aus, SA & Argentina).

7s has a different image to rugby 15s and if the IRB don't go with it, they will separate from the IRB and just get on with what they are doing now.

quinsforever wrote:I know. I'm a big fan of being commercial, but wtf does the IRB sell directly to anyone?

The sport of rugby.

doctor_grey wrote:

quinsforever wrote:Does anyone else find it strange that the governing body of our sport is feeling the need to rebrand/appeal directly to people?

FIFA, worlds most successful governing body is not impeded by being FIFA.

PGA, or R&A do not feel that their TLAs impede the growth of golf

I think that the blazers are once again worried about their primacy at the centre of our sport.

FFS the sport is rugby. Who gives a poppie if the rules-setter is called IRB, World Rugby, or 560 old farts. The only people who will ever notice are those who are already fans of and engaged in the sports.

What a waste of money and patent display of blazer insecurity.

Some ruddy consultant must have been paid pocketloads of money to come up with such a brilliant idea.  This is so stupid that I would expect it to come from a government agency somewhere, not from a bunch of Rugby guys.  Bloody hell, the end is nigh.

I doubt it. The IRB have their own in-house brand manager, Brett Gosper. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Gosper

His most recent job was chief executive of McCann Erickson Europe, Middle East and Africa (for those who don't know, they are one of the big global ad agencies).

Where do I buy an IRB shirt or ticket to an IRB game?

quinsforever wrote:Where do I buy an IRB shirt or ticket to an IRB game?

You can go to a few IRB games next year at the world cup!

http://www.sport24.co.za/Multimedia/Rugby/Rugby-World-Cup-2015-draw-20121204

edit: and here is a jersey you could have got for the last world cup!

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Sport/Pix/columnists/2011/10/14/1318594735298/England-v-France---IRB-RW-007.jpg

No body getting into rugby will give a flying fig about the name of the governing body. Is this really all it is or is there a change to how they will work?

Sin é wrote:

doctor_grey wrote:

quinsforever wrote:Does anyone else find it strange that the governing body of our sport is feeling the need to rebrand/appeal directly to people?

FIFA, worlds most successful governing body is not impeded by being FIFA.

PGA, or R&A do not feel that their TLAs impede the growth of golf

I think that the blazers are once again worried about their primacy at the centre of our sport.

FFS the sport is rugby. Who gives a poppie if the rules-setter is called IRB, World Rugby, or 560 old farts. The only people who will ever notice are those who are already fans of and engaged in the sports.

What a waste of money and patent display of blazer insecurity.

Some ruddy consultant must have been paid pocketloads of money to come up with such a brilliant idea.  This is so stupid that I would expect it to come from a government agency somewhere, not from a bunch of Rugby guys.  Bloody hell, the end is nigh.

I doubt it. The IRB have their own in-house brand manager, Brett Gosper.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Gosper

His most recent job was chief executive of McCann Erickson Europe, Middle East and Africa (for those who don't know, they are one of the big global ad agencies).

We all know Gosper seems a good man and has a strong and successful professional background in advertising. So what do advertising guys do? Re-brand entities. I s'pose this was an inevitable outcome of hiring an advertising guy to lead the IRB.

But, he would not have done this by himself. Customer research, at a cost, would have to be conducted and this is where I find it strange. Customer research is an activity which pairs together wildly creative thinking and data weenies. This is where the cost is - the research and the data crunching and analysis.

Names of governing boards are mostly, in my opinion, irrelevant to the success or failure of the sport. Can't see the name change having an impact either way. Hence my comments - money spent, and for what benefit. Needs to be explained to the core constituency (that's us). Not a big deal in the scope of things, but a peculiar thing to do.

From planetrugby:

"Rugby continues to thrive, reach out and engage new audiences and participants in record numbers and the IRB has been at the heart of that growth," said IRB chairman Bernard Lapasset.

"We are committed to furthering that growth beyond our traditional family and fan base with a public that expects to be entertained, informed and interacted with. This move is more than just a name change, it is a mission statement."

"In a crowded global entertainment and sporting marketplace, the role of the IRB has evolved from Game regulator to Game inspirer," explained IRB Chief Executive Brett Gosper.

"With this we must continue to appeal to those who know and love the sport and its heritage, while attracting, engaging and inspiring those who have no connection with the sport across multiple cultures and languages around the world."

"World Rugby collectively has the ingredients and tools to do just that. Rugby's global appeal is founded and positioned on its unique character-building values and inclusive ethos and we want everyone to feel connected with the sport and Rugby's ongoing success story."

"World Rugby clearly aligns our name with our mission and allows us to organise new and existing consumer facing properties in a way that they will be more impactful and more appealing to the sport's growing global fan base."

Ok you need a degree in marketing to be able to speak like that. It's easy to be cynical about this impenetrable jargon but I think we'd all feel a lot happier about this rebranding if it was followed up by some policies we could all sink our teeth into.

They are changing it to world rugby because Mars is starting a rugby federation.

Shouldn't it be Earth Rugby then? There are loads of 'worlds'.

Rugby Fan wrote:Can't say I have any great love and affection for "the IRB", so I'm not really fussed.

Mind you, it would be interesting to know how much the rebranding costs, and the marketing theory behind the new name.

I like the IRB, I reckon they do a good job. Where is the issue? At least they arent anyway near as useless as FIFA.

Maybe the think the rest are planets

Given how hard the IRB have worked to enhance and protect rugby in every corner of the planet they obviously feel 'world' is more appropriate.

Team World Rugby

'World Rugby, Feck yeah.....

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:Ok you need a degree in marketing to be able to speak like that. It's easy to be cynical about this impenetrable jargon but I think we'd all feel a lot happier about this rebranding if it was followed up by some policies we could all sink our teeth into.

Cynical? Me?
Kia,
I agree with your point. A rebrand is almost always accompanied by a change in actions or emphasis on particular initiatives. Seems missing at the moment.

Biltong wrote:They are changing it to world rugby because Mars is starting a rugby federation.

I thought little green men were almost always scrum halves (and some already playing here?).

Cyril wrote:Shouldn't it be Earth Rugby then? There are loads of 'worlds'.

Disagree. I read on the internet the stars and sun revolve about the earth, which is flat, by the way. And if on the internet, it must be true.