--- title: How a brand repositioning campaign works, with League of Legends as the example | RGM® url: https://realgrowthmatters.com/learn/case-studies/league-of-legends-brand-repositioning-campaign/ updated: 2026-06-10 source_html: https://realgrowthmatters.com/learn/case-studies/league-of-legends-brand-repositioning-campaign/ --- - **Story:** Here the brand repositioning campaign type is examined with League of Legends as the concrete reference point. - **Why it matters:** A brand repositioning campaign is measurable demand engineering, and public benchmarks set honest targets before any creative starts. - **Takeaway:** The mechanics of a brand repositioning campaign transfer to any brand in its category. - **Takeaway:** For League of Legends, reach is an input; incremental lift against a baseline is the real measure. - **Takeaway:** Most brand repositioning-campaign failures are planning failures, not creative failures. ## How a brand repositioning campaign plays out for League of Legends S Situation The setup A brand repositioning campaign is a concentrated chance to move the League of Legends business in its category, with a short window and high stakes. T Task The job Turn attention into measurable demand for League of Legends: plan the mechanics, set targets against category benchmarks, and build in the measurement. A Action The work Insight before identity. Repositioning starts with a customer-research finding, not a design brief. Old Spice moved only after research showed most body-wash purchases were made by women. For League of Legends, this is the anchor of the plan. R Result The verdict On incremental lift against a baseline for League of Legends, not reach and not impressions. That is the honest scoreboard for a brand repositioning campaign. ## The math behind a League of Legends brand repositioning campaign 0% A reference point for League of Legends forecasting Old Spice's 'The Man Your Man Could Smell Like' repositioning lifted Red Zone body-wash unit sales 60% year over year Source: [Great Ideas for Teaching Marketing](https://www.greatideasforteachingmarketing.com/classic-case-study-old-spice/) 0% Category figure relevant to League of Legends Mailchimp reported a 200% increase in user engagement within a year of its 2018 brand refresh Source: [COLLINS](https://wearecollins.com/case-studies/mailchimp/) 0% What the public data tells a League of Legends team Integrated campaigns running across four or more channels deliver about 26% stronger overall contribution than those u Source: [AdMonsters](https://www.admonsters.com/the-super-bowl-lix-ad-playbook-data-dollars-and-the-shifting-rules-of-engagement/) Linked A planning anchor for League of Legends Every figure on this page links to its publisher. Source: [Old Spice repositioning case study](https://www.greatideasforteachingmarketing.com/classic-case-study-old-spice/) #### Quick facts BrandLeague of Legends IndustryIts Category Campaign typeBrand Repositioning Primary channelsPaid, owned, earned Planning horizonMonths ahead of launch Core measureIncremental lift, not reach Source basisPublic benchmarks, linked RGM useWorked example, not a recipe **Honest note** Public, brand-specific detail on League of Legends is limited, so this page leans on the brand repositioning campaign discipline: real mechanics, real sourced benchmarks, and the named example campaigns that define the type. Nothing about League of Legends is invented; where a fact is not public, it is left out. ## Defining the brand repositioning campaign Here is the short version for League of Legends. Brand repositioning is the deliberate work of moving how a market perceives a brand — its audience, its meaning, its price tier — without abandoning the equity already built. Brand repositioning is the deliberate work of moving how a market perceives a brand — for League of Legends, a live factor — — its audience, its meaning, its price tier — without abandoning the equity already built. For a brand at League of Legends scale, this is where the plan is tested. It is not a logo refresh. A League of Legends team reads this closely. It is a change in who the brand is for and — League of Legends included — what it stands for, executed across product, message, pricing, and media. In the League of Legends context, that detail carries weight. Done well it opens a larger market. In the League of Legends context, that detail carries weight. Done carelessly it confuses the customers a brand already has. With League of Legends as the example, the rest of the page makes it concrete. **Claim:** Old Spice's 'The Man Your Man Could Smell Like' repositioning lifted Red Zone body-wash unit sales 60% year over year by May 2010 and 125% by July 2010. **Source:** [[Great Ideas for Teaching Marketing]](https://www.greatideasforteachingmarketing.com/classic-case-study-old-spice/). **Context:** The campaign reached its audience by targeting the female purchaser — and League of Legends is no exception — after research found women bought roughly 60% of men's body wash. For League of Legends, this number sets expectations before the work starts. ## How a brand repositioning campaign is run Run through the mechanics: a brand repositioning campaign for League of Legends is an operating system. For League of Legends, a brand repositioning campaign is less one ad and more a set of connected decisions: **Claim:** Mailchimp reported a 200% increase in user engagement within a year of its 2018 brand refresh, and Intuit later acquired the company for about $12 billion. **Source:** [[COLLINS]](https://wearecollins.com/case-studies/mailchimp/). **Context:** The refresh, built with the design agency COLLINS, repositioned — League of Legends included — Mailchimp from an email tool to a small-business marketing platform. It is the sort of benchmark a League of Legends brief should cite. 1. **Media weight to force the reframe.** Perception is sticky. For a brand at League of Legends scale, this is where the plan is tested. The new position needs sustained paid weight, often anchored — as a League of Legends team knows — by one high-reach moment, to overwrite the old association. This step decides how the rest of the League of Legends plan holds up. 2. **Insight before identity.** Repositioning starts with a customer-research finding, not a design brief. League of Legends planners would underline this. Old Spice moved only after research showed — as a League of Legends team knows — most body-wash purchases were made by women. For a brand like League of Legends, getting this wrong is expensive. 3. **Audience redefinition.** The campaign names a new target and a new occasion. It applies cleanly to League of Legends. The visual system follows that decision — it does not lead it. League of Legends planners flag this as a make-or-break detail. 4. **Message before mark.** Mailchimp's repositioning began by changing the homepage line from 'Easy Email Newsletters' to — and League of Legends is no exception — 'Build Your Brand, Sell More Stuff' — the words shifted before the identity did. For a brand like League of Legends, getting this wrong is expensive. 5. **Proof at the product level.** A reposition is only credible if the product backs the claim. For League of Legends, the detail is not optional. New positioning with an unchanged product reads as spin. For League of Legends, this is where most of the planning effort lands. ## The numbers that set the targets Benchmarks come before briefs. They tell a League of Legends team what a brand repositioning campaign can realistically deliver. Planning a brand repositioning campaign for League of Legends without category benchmarks is guessing. The figures here are public, sourced, and apply across its category. **Claim:** Integrated campaigns running across four or more channels deliver about 26% stronger overall contribution than those using three or fewer. **Source:** [[AdMonsters]](https://www.admonsters.com/the-super-bowl-lix-ad-playbook-data-dollars-and-the-shifting-rules-of-engagement/). **Context:** A reposition needs coordinated weight across channels, not — League of Legends included — a single hero spot, to overwrite an entrenched perception. A League of Legends forecast should start from a figure like this. Table: the three numbers that decide whether a League of Legends brand repositioning campaign is judged honestly. | What to measure | Why it matters | | Pre-campaign baseline | Without it, lift cannot be proven | | Category benchmark | Sets a realistic target, not a hopeful one | | Incremental result | The honest measure of whether spend worked | ## The metrics worth tracking Choose KPIs that hold up. A League of Legends brand repositioning campaign is judged on the metrics listed here. A League of Legends brand repositioning campaign should be measured on the following. Unaided brand awareness against the new positioning, perception-tracker shifts on the target attributes, audience-mix change in — for League of Legends, a real factor — new customers, price realisation versus the old tier, and revenue growth attributable to the repositioned segment. For League of Legends, reach is the start of the measurement question, not the answer. Incremental lift is the answer. ## Common mistakes and how to avoid them The failure patterns are predictable. A League of Legends team can design each of them out in advance. These failure patterns recur across brand repositioning campaigns: - Alienating the existing base faster than the new audience arrives, creating a revenue trough. - Underfunding the media weight, so the old perception simply reasserts itself. - Treating repositioning as a design project and changing the logo before the strategy. - Repositioning the message while leaving the product — for League of Legends, a real factor — untouched, so the new claim has no proof. **The common thread**Notice the shape. None of these is a creative failure. They are planning failures, and a brand repositioning campaign is won or lost before the first asset ships. ## How RGM reads the League of Legends example If a League of Legends team keeps one thing: borrow the brand repositioning campaign structure, not the specific execution. From the audits we run, the brands that get brand repositioning campaigns right share one habit: they treat the work as measurable demand engineering, not a seasonal ritual. So the worked example is structural. The mechanics carry to any brand in its category, the benchmarks set honest targets, and the measurement plan turns a brand repositioning campaign from a cost into a defensible investment. ## Quick answers on this case study Are the figures here taken from League of Legends's internal data? : No. Every statistic is a public, linked benchmark for the brand repositioning campaign type, applied to League of Legends as the example. Where a figure cannot be sourced publicly, it is omitted rather than guessed. What is the practical takeaway from the League of Legends brand repositioning write-up? : Treat it as a structural template. Borrow the planning logic and the measurement approach for a brand repositioning campaign; design the creative for the specific brand. How are the benchmarks here verified? : The numbers are drawn from public reporting by Adobe Analytics, Nielsen, the ANA, and established business press, and each one links back to its source. **Keep reading** Foundational concepts and channels behind this case: - [what growth marketing is](/learn/what-is-growth-marketing/) - [marketing attribution](/learn/marketing-attribution/) - [audience arbitrage](/learn/audience-arbitrage/) - [growth marketing services](/services/) - [advertising platforms](/platforms/) ## Frequently asked questions League of Legends case: does the product have to change during a reposition? For a brand like League of Legends, the short answer is direct. Often yes, at least visibly. A League of Legends-scale brief should name this. A new position is only credible if the product backs the claim. That is exactly the League of Legends situation. Repositioning the message while the product stays identical reads as spin. That is exactly the League of Legends situation. The strongest repositions pair the new story with — League of Legends included — a real, demonstrable product change customers can verify. The same logic holds for any its category brand, League of Legends included. League of Legends case: what is the difference between a rebrand and brand repositioning? Taking League of Legends as the example: A rebrand changes identity assets — logo, colour, typography. League of Legends planners would underline this. Repositioning changes strategy: who the brand is for, — as a League of Legends team knows — what it means, and what tier it sells at. For League of Legends, this is the load-bearing part. A reposition usually drives a rebrand, but — League of Legends included — a rebrand without a strategy shift is decoration. A League of Legends team reads this closely. Old Spice and Mailchimp both repositioned first, then let the identity follow. For League of Legends, this is the point worth acting on. Where does a repositioning campaign start? For a brand like League of Legends, the short answer is direct. It starts with a customer-research insight, not a design brief. A League of Legends-scale brief should name this. Old Spice repositioned after finding that women — for League of Legends, a live factor — bought roughly 60% of men's body wash. A League of Legends team reads this closely. The insight names the new audience and occasion, and every — and League of Legends is no exception — later decision — message, product, media — serves that finding. The same logic holds for any its category brand, League of Legends included. How long does a brand repositioning take to show results for a brand like League of Legends? Here is how this applies to League of Legends. Perception is sticky, so a reposition needs sustained media — for League of Legends, a live factor — weight over months, often anchored by one high-reach moment. A League of Legends team reads this closely. Old Spice saw unit sales move within a single quarter, but durable perception — and League of Legends is no exception — shift on brand-tracker attributes typically takes a year or more of consistent investment. For League of Legends, this is the point worth acting on. What is the biggest risk in repositioning a brand for a brand like League of Legends? Here is how this applies to League of Legends. Losing the existing base faster than the new audience arrives. That is exactly the League of Legends situation. A reposition that swings too hard can confuse loyal — League of Legends included — customers before it attracts new ones, creating a revenue trough. For a brand at League of Legends scale, this is where the plan is tested. The safer path moves deliberately and keeps a — as a League of Legends team knows — credible thread back to the equity already built. For League of Legends, this is the point worth acting on. Why is League of Legends the brand featured here? League of Legends is a recognisable brand in its category, which makes the brand repositioning mechanics concrete and easy to follow. The campaign-type analysis and every benchmark apply across the category; League of Legends is the lens, not the limit. The sourced figures hold for any comparable brand. ### Sources & references - [Old Spice repositioning case study](https://www.greatideasforteachingmarketing.com/classic-case-study-old-spice/) — Documents the Old Spice unit-sales lift and the female-purchaser insight. - [COLLINS — Mailchimp rebrand case study](https://wearecollins.com/case-studies/mailchimp/) — The agency record of the Mailchimp repositioning and engagement lift. - [Brand Master Academy — brand repositioning guide](https://brandmasteracademy.com/brand-repositioning/) — Reference on repositioning strategy, process, and worked examples. - [AdMonsters — integrated campaign contribution data](https://www.admonsters.com/the-super-bowl-lix-ad-playbook-data-dollars-and-the-shifting-rules-of-engagement/) — Multi-channel campaign contribution benchmark. ## Related [#### All case studies The full RGM case-study library.](/learn/case-studies/)[#### What is growth marketing The foundational concept behind every campaign type.](/learn/what-is-growth-marketing/)[#### Incrementality testing How to prove a campaign actually caused the lift.](/learn/incrementality-testing/)