Unclear how much rebranding will cost

The cost to rebrand more than a dozen government departments, which primarily use te reo Māori names, could cost “millions”, according to marketing experts.

Meanwhile, Waka Kotahi told Stuff’s Tova podcast that its rebrand from NZTA to Waka Kotahi cost less than $7000. But similar changes, such as the rebrand from CYFS to Oranga Tamariki, have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The new Government is taking aim at state-sector bilingualism, saying all government departments – unless they specifically focus on Māori – should primarily use English names. Such a change will require full rebranding operations at affected departments, Stuff has learnt.

A rebranding exercise of that magnitude would be “incredibly expensive”, according to marketing experts Stuff has spoken to. AUT marketing professor Ben Wooliscroft said he expected the total cost to be “millions, millions and millions of dollars”.

The English branding edict would cover “all public service departments”, as promised in the Government’s NZ First coalition deal.

But Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has not put a deadline on the switch, which was absent from the 100-day plan released this week.

Wooliscroft, a macro marketing expert, said rebranding a dozen-plus organisations would be “massively expensive”. “We’re not rebranding Coca Cola, so we don’t need new fridges in every dairy but every website, letterhead and every business card will need replacing with a new design,” he said.

The cost of government department rebranding varies greatly.

For instance, it cost $220,000 for the “Teaching Council” to rebrand to “Education Council”.

When Oranga Tamariki formed, it budgeted about $500,000 just to print new signage for its offices. Designing the logo cost about $50,000.

Analysis of the about 150 Crown entities shows that very few use a reo Māori name as their primary brand. Most of the departments which do, such as Te Arawhiti, and Te Puni Kōkiri, Whakaata Māori, deal explicitly with kaupapa Māori such as te reo and Māori Development.

They are exempt from rebranding, according to the Government’s NZ First coalition agreement, which vowed to “ensure all public service departments have their primary name in English, except for those specifically related to Māori”. Such an order would require full rebranding operations at at least 12 government departments.

The clear-cut examples are Kāinga Ora (state house manager), Manatū Taonga (culture ministry), Te Kura (distance education school), Aroturuki Tamariki (monitors Oranga Tamariki), Mana Mokopuna (recently rebranded Children’s Commission), Te Whatu Ora, Te Papa Tongarewa, Oranga Tamariki, Ōtākaro Limited (Christchurch investment company), Whaikaha (Ministry for Disabled People), Whakarongorau Aotearoa (telehealth operator) and Waka Kotahi (NZTA).

Te Pūkenga, the national polytechnic, would also be on that list – but the Government has promised to disestablish it.

On Monday, after being sworn in as deputy prime minister, NZ First leader Winston Peters indicated his policy would stretch beyond those dozen departments. He said the state broadcasters, TVNZ (Te Reo Tātaki o Aotearoa) and RNZ (Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa) could also be impacted by this policy – even though both are predominantly English brands.

Other organisations, such as the Human Rights Commission/Te Kāhui Tikatangata, have adopted dual lingual branding. It is unclear how this policy will impact organisations that use both languages side by side. No government minister has answered that question.

Every website, letterhead and every business card will need replacing.

Ben Wooliscroft

Macro marketing expert