The telecommunications company ditched the red and white used by Vodafone globally in favour of an emerald or greenstone green.
However, it now shares a similarname to the One New Zealand Foundation, an organisation that describes itself as "concerned about increasing privilege being given to one race of people over all other[s]" and has called the Waitangi Tribunal "an undemocratic and secretive institution".
The telco's chief executive officer Jason Paris took to social media to defend the company's new name.
"One NZ stands for the best of NZ (diversity, inclusion, trust, innovation etc)," he tweeted.
Paris said the new name "has landed extremely well" and people are supportive of Vodafone licensing funds being reinvested in New Zealand.
"Ultimately we won't be judged on the name but the actions we take. That's our focus," he said.
Paris told NZME-owned BusinessDesk's tech editor, Ben Moore, he had not heard of the negative connotation of the name until after the rebranding was announced.
One NZ has landed extremely well. 100% love that we are reinvesting the Voda brand licensing $ back in NZ, & that One NZ stands for the best of NZ (diversity, inclusion, trust, innovation etc) Ultimately we won’t be judged on the name but the actions we take. That’s our focus.
Social media users have criticised the new name as being a "racist dog whistle".
One New Zealand was also the name of a short-lived political party modelled on Australia's One Nation party, founded by Pauline Hanson.
The party, which only received 0.09 per cent of the vote at its height in the early 2000s, accused Helen Clark's Labour Government of apartheid for granting "special privileges" to Māori.
Vodafone New Zealand is changing its name to One New Zealand, or One NZ. Some have criticised the new name as a "racist dog whistle". Photo / Supplied
The changes will take effect from early next year, and also see the Vodafone Warriors become the One Warriors, and retail stores get a new look.
The move comes three years after the UK-based, multinational Vodafone sold its local business to NZX-listed Infratil and Canada's Brookfield. Each holds a half-share.
"There wasn't a time frame on when the rebrand needed to happen. Licensing the name could continue, if desired. We've decided that now is the right time to do it, as part of our ongoing transformation," a Vodafone NZ spokeswoman told the Herald shortly before the new name was revealed.
Infratil will be hoping for a similar bounce in value to that delivered last decade when (with the NZ Super Fund) it bought Shell's New Zealand business and rebranded it as 'Z' - a successful transition namechecked by a Vodafone insider.
Although "One NZ" will no longer have to pay millions for Vodafone branding rights, it will continue to shell out licensing fees to retain access to the global telco's technology.
"We're keeping the things our customers value like Vodafone global roaming and IoT [the internet of things], as well as access to Vodafone Group IP [intellectual property] through our partner market status.
"There are no changes to existing products or services for customers, but we will be introducing a range of exciting new customer initiatives over the next few months."
One NZ CEO Jason Paris at the launch of the new name. Photo / Dean Purcell
The Vodafone brand has been in NZ since 1998, then the global giant bought BellSouth's local business.
And it will be the second major rebranding exercise for chief executive Jason Paris, who was second-in-command at Telecom when it changed its name to Spark in 2014.
"Three years ago, we moved from global to local to focus 100 per cent on New Zealand, and since then we have been laying the foundations to serve Aotearoa long into the future," Paris said overnight.
"Now, it is time to take the next step. To become One New Zealand. One team of over 3000 employees, with one focus on one country and on one goal, to unlock the magic of technology to create an awesome Aotearoa."
