We’ve taken inspiration from the Southern Rata for the logo – the star of our much-loved television commercial. The mark itself is the aerial view of an opening rata but with the Meridian colours drawn from the blue of Lake Pukaki. It’s drawn with a single brushstroke and we’ve purposely kept all the ‘perfect imperfections’ that come with a hand-drawn mark.
But we’re not just making change for change’s sake. This new logo and imagery is part of a much larger programme of changing the way we engage and communicate with our customers, and improving the quality of products and services we offer. It is only the visible tip of the iceberg.
Why change?
We researched customers about our previous logo and imagery. They told us it was hard to read, unrecognisable, too similar to our competitors’ logos and had negative connotations. We listened to what you said and made significant changes. We have created a look that is friendly, unique within our industry and we hope our customers will like it.
We are investing in a programme to deliver new value to you, including new billing systems and online delivery. The new look is a very small part of a wider programme.
We’ve also just moved to our environmentally, technologically advanced Wellington office, which required an update to stationery, so it is a logical time to make the change.
The decision to take a phased approach to rolling out this new look was made in order to minimise waste, therefore you’ll see gradual changes over the next 18-24 months.