Kiwibank general manager of brand and marketing Simon Hofmann. Photo / Supplied
Kiwibank general manager of brand and marketing Simon Hofmann. Photo / Supplied
Kiwibank's biggest branding splurge in a decade will change the look and feel of the bank across the country.
"The change is a significant one," Kiwibank general manager of brand and marketing Simon Hofmann told the Herald.
"We are in the process of changing thousands of customer touch-points from websiteand digital tools, customer communication and social channels, to the app and ATMs."
The physical stores are also being updated, and Kiwibank has launched a new slogan, "This is Kiwi".
This work is all being led by Kiwibank's recently appointed creative agency Special Group, which is also New Zealand-owned.
It's notable that this change comes off the back of the conscious uncoupling of NZ Post and Kiwibank in recent years.
That move marked an important step in Kiwibank evolving into a standalone entity, which was no longer in a co-working relationship with the post office.
Interestingly, NZ Post also had a major rebrand last year in an effort to modernise the way it appeared to the public.
Kiwibank's major rebrand serves as a continuation of the bank's effort to show it has grown up over the past 20 years.
Central to the challenge of rebranding Kiwibank was the question of how to push the 20-year independence of the bank without leaning on any tired Kiwi clichés.
The concept of "Kiwi" has always been central to the bank's key point of difference. It is, after all, the thing that separates Kiwibank from the dominant Australian-owned competitors that occupy the market.
But the concept also has a few hangups in that it evokes classic images of Kiwiana, such as jandals, pavlova and number 8 wire – none of which is consistent with the idea of a professional banking organisation in 2022.
Kiwibank general manager of brand and marketing Simon Hofmann. Photo / Supplied
"Kiwi is in our name, so there's no escaping it," says Hofmann.
"This strategic shift is trying to address some of the old-school connotations with Kiwiana. The question we're really asking is what does it mean to be Kiwi in 2022? How do you put a spotlight on those traits and those values that we see in a more modern, progressive New Zealand?"
The rebrand was informed by research conducted by insights firm TRA showing that the concept of being Kiwi had evolved significantly in recent years.
"When we looked at the brand, we really wanted to understand how Kiwi see themselves today and does the culture reflect," says Hofmann.
"Over the last few years, we've spoken a lot more about the outward world view. New Zealand is more comfortable on the global stage.
"This is reflected in the launch advertising campaign, which focuses on the innovative work of Kiwi companies making waves around the world. We're proud of who we are."
This may all sound like superficial corporate language, but business folklore is replete with stories of businesses that failed to respond to cultural changes and eventually became irrelevant. A good recent example of this would be Abercrombie & Fitch, which was once the epitome of American cool but then refused to evolve the way it appeared to the public. Today, this case study is the subject of a Netflix documentary – an end result no company wants to see.
Another local example of unwillingness to evolve could be seen in Wicked Camper vans, which got away with its offensive slogans for years but now faces a ban in South Australia.
These are extreme examples, depicting worst-case scenarios. But failing to evolve with a changing culture can also lead to quieter death for a brand as it becomes less and less relevant to the public.
Standing apart from the competition is particularly important in the banking sector where everyone is essentially selling the same thing.
And while Kiwibank today boasts about having more than a million customers, the bank is still relatively small in two key sectors: home lending and business clients.
By the end of the second quarter in 2022, Kiwibank held only 7.1 per cent of the home lending market. This remains well behind ANZ's 30.5 per cent, ASB's 21.6 per cent, Westpac's 19.1 per cent and BNZ's 16.7 per cent.
There's a similar divide evident in business lending, with Kiwibank holding 3.1 per cent of the market.
Meanwhile, ANZ holds 22.4 per cent, BNZ sits on 23.7 per cent, ASB on 19.8 per cent and Westpac on 15.7 per cent.
Hofmann makes no secret of Kiwibank's objectives to grow in both these areas, saying that the bank wants to build on the growth it's seen in recent years.
"Home lending and business are the areas where we're looking to grow and have more impact for New Zealand."
But growing in these markets is easier said than done.
The massive revenues and profits of other Australian-owned banks give them access to far larger marketing budgets to get their messages across.
Nielsen ad spend data for 2020 shows that Kiwibank spent only a quarter of the amount of any of the big four banks. In previous years that ratio was sitting at around a third.
The question now is whether Kiwibank's evolving brand has the power to cut through the clutter and continue growing for the next 20 years.
