Stuart Nash: Airport rebranding defies logic

Stuart Nash

While some people in the region may know that 'Ahuriri' is the Maori name for Napier, I would wager that very few outside the Bay would.

The proposal to rebrand Hawke's Bay Airport to Ahuriri Airport Hawke's Bay makes no sense from a business or a branding perspective, and should be dropped.

There can be reasons to rebrand a product or service, but the underlying rationale is nearly always to build, enhance, regain, or recreate equity that has been lost in the old brand. Perhaps one of the most famous examples is when Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, he rebranded the company from Apple Computer to Apple so the company would have customer permission to sell other products, such as the iPod, iPhone, iWatch etc. Now Apple is the most valuable company in the world.

Whatever the reason for a rebranding decision, to be successful the new brand must resonate with its customers and therefore create value over and above that which existed beforehand. This is why I find it absurd that the directors and shareholders of our regional airport have decided to rebrand Hawke's Bay Airport to Ahuriri Airport Hawke's Bay. The Hawke's Bay brand is not damaged; in fact quite the contrary -- a significant amount of money has been poured into enhancing the Bay brand both domestically and internationally, and it is recognised by the air-travelling public.

In fact, this proposal may backfire in the sense that it could well create confusion. As it is, our airport is the only domestic one on the Air NZ website that has two separate brands: "Hawke's Bay" (the official name of the airport) and "Napier/Hastings" (the destinations that most people booking want to arrive at and the cities the terminal serves).

Will those who wish to come to the region now need to book under the name Ahuriri Hawke's Bay; a name meaningless to the vast majority? If the name is only going to be titular (just on the building and in official documents) then what's the point of spending ratepayers' and taxpayers' money (the airport is 50 per cent owned by the Crown, 26 per cent owned by Napier City Council and 24 per cent owned by Hastings District Council) on a rebranding exercise when there are so many more pressing issues that the money could go towards. Ask anyone who works for one of our community centres for some ideas on where expenditure should go and I very much doubt this would be on anyone's top 30 list.

While some people in the region may know that "Ahuriri" is the Maori name for Napier, I would wager that very few outside the Bay would, nor would they associate it with the airport or air travel.

Since Sir Michael Cullen corporatised the airport company 10 or so years ago we have been well served by its governance board, thus this appears to be an out-of-character move. I would urge the Hawke's Bay Airport's directors to review this decision and present a good business case as to how a rebrand will add significant value to the organisation. Certainly, I can't come up with one good reason -- no matter how hard I try.

* Stuart Nash is MP for Napier

* Business and civic leaders, organisers, experts in their field and interest groups can contribute opinions. The views expressed here are the writer's opinion and not the newspaper's. Email: editor@hbtoday.co.nz