The only constant is change, the saying goes, and many times it’s actually changes upon changes. Today a change was officially announced, one that builds on a change I talked about years ago. Like that one, this one doesn’t affect me all that much, but it does make me pause and reflect.
Today, Vodafone New Zealand announced that they’re rebranding as “One New Zealand” (to be stylised “One.NZ”) early in 2023. This change has very little impact on me personally—nothing beyond the carrier designation on my phone changing from “Voda NZ” to “One NZ”. But this isn’t the first time I’ve faced a change made by Vodafone NZ. In fact, this is basically the fourth change.
Nearly five years ago, I talked about one such change, when Vodafone shut down their email services, ending an email address I’d had for some 21 years. That change was the second time they’d done something that affected me, something I mentioned in that 2017 post: They’d acquired the Internet Service Provider we had at the time, The Internet Group in October, in 2006.
The first time that Vodafone affected me, though, was in 1998, when they bought the New Zealand operations of BellSouth (now part of AT&T). BellSouth entered the New Zealand mobile phone market around six years after Telecom New Zealand (now called Spark) began providing cellular phone services. BellSouth introduced pre-pay mobile phones to New Zealand, which meant no expensive monthly contracts. I bought my first cellphone on November 12, 1998, shortly after Vodafone bought BellSouth. I’d been thinking about it for awhile, and moved in case Vodafone changed things too much (they didn’t). I’m still with them to this day, but mainly because they currently suit my needs—I’m not brand loyal.
There were a lot of other things that went on over the years: In 2012, Vodafone NZ acquired TelstraClear (at the time, New Zealand’s second-largest telecommunications company and itself the product of mergers). A failed merger with Sky Television in 2016 was the first hint that the UK-based company wasn’t happy with its New Zealand operations (something I alluded to in my 2017 post). On July 31, 2019, UK-based Vodafone Plc sold the New Zealand operations to a consortium, and it’s been a New Zealand company every since.
The main reason for the change is money: Vodafone NZ was paying an estimated $20-30 million per year merely to license the “Vodafone” brand. That’s on top of business partnerships with the UK company. That savings can be used not just for additional returns to shareholders, but some of the savings can also be used for infrastructure investment—technology never stands still.
The fact is, I couldn’t be more “meh” about the change in name: It doesn’t affect me at all, and the savings may allow the company to innovate here in New Zealand. However, my first reaction was that the new name was stupid. The company says that the name, by incorporating the last three letters of the “Vodafone” name, indicates continuity. Right. Yeah, that was exactly the first thing I thought when I saw it. Still, what they choose to call their company is nothing I actually care about, but it won’t stop me from wondering how much they paid “brand consultants” to help them come up with the name, nor to snicker at the thought of them spending a lot of money to come up with it.
It may not sound like it (because sometimes I’m too sarcastic for my own good…), but I actually like Vodaf—whoops—One New Zealand as a company. As long as I continue to like them, I’ll continue as a customer. All they have to do is earn my business, just like every other company has to do. It’s really that simple. At the moment, they’re doing fine.
However, I can’t promise I won’t use their new name in puns on this blog. It’s just what one does.
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