Port of Auckland tweaked its name as part of its "Regaining our Mana" turnaround journey. Photo / Michael Craig
Port of Auckland tweaked its name as part of its "Regaining our Mana" turnaround journey. Photo / Michael Craig
Rebranding Port of Auckland after it dropped the ‘s’ from its name is budgeted to cost less than 1 per cent of its revenue, says the Auckland Council-owned company.
A spokeswoman for New Zealand’s main imports gateway, until last month known as Ports of Auckland, said the company had budgetedfor less than $300,000 this financial year for the reimaging around its name change.
The cost of the name rebrand was not expected to extend beyond FY24, with the port company hoping to have all the work completed this financial year, she said.
The port, which is on a financial and operational turnaround journey after several years of under-performance, announced it was changing its name from “Ports” to Port of Auckland at its FY23 financial results last month.
“As part of the Regaining our Mana strategy, we felt our identity was no longer accurately representing the port or our vision for the future. We’re beginning a journey to update our look and feel with a clean, contemporary design framework that includes more elements of Te Ao Māori and acknowledges Port of Auckland’s past, present and future,” it said at the time in a press release.
“We’ve removed the ‘s’ on Ports to reflect the 2018 sale of Ōnehunga seaport to Auckland - we are now a singular seaport operation on the Waitematā.
“The incorporation of more te reo Māori and Māori design aligns with our Taura Herenga Waka (Māori Outcomes Framework) and reflects employee feedback.
“Through our inclusive approach, we believe our brand represents the collective outlook of our people and is consequently a true representation of who we are and where we’re heading. We are proud to represent New Zealand and facilitate the sustainable growth of trade across the upper North Island, and especially proud to be Auckland’s port.”
The port’s logo has not changed except for its colour, previously blue, now black and white.
Port of Auckland has changed its logo from blue to black as part of its name rebranding.
The spokeswoman said as part of the brand change, the company was moving from previously dominant blues to a “more simple” black and white look, with some use of orange in its brand presentations.
“It’s a slow roll-out and the budget allocated for the refreshed brand is going into a lot of the practical things - new document templates for policies, SOPs presentations to the council, changing vehicle signage as vehicles are required to be replaced, updated safety signs, welcome sign for the office foyer etc,” she said.
The country’s biggest port, Port of Tauranga, also has a new-look brand, its first change in 25 years.
It has a new logo (but not a new name) after an 18-month review of its brand assets, which included community surveys and discussions with employees.
Port of Tauranga surveyed the community and staff on a new brand.
The new look, designed by a local agency, had its first public outing in the NZX-listed company’s FY23 financial results and annual report last month.
The company, majority-owned by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council, “wanted to better communicate our purpose, vision and values to our team and our external stakeholders”.
A spokeswoman declined to give the cost of the rebrand but said implementation costs would be kept to a minimum by replacing signage only as required.
The annual report said the new logo reflected the port’s unique geographic location, its geometric shapes echoed the silhouette of Mauao, the mountain at the entrance to the Te Awanui Tauranga Harbour, the rising sun, the horizon and the curve of the shipping channel.
“The circular shape characterises the port’s place at the centre of the community, a hub of activity and a safe anchorage. The curves also represent connections and journeys, and echo the bow of a ship or the ripple of a wave,” the annual report said.
Andrea Fox joined the Herald as a senior business journalist in 2018 and specialises in writing about the dairy industry, agribusiness, exporting and the logistics sector and supply chains.
