WINDHOEK – The national power utility, the Namibia Power Corporation (NamPower) has responded to escalating criticism on its refreshed logo that was revealed in two advertorials early this week saying the exercise was part of the production of a new Corporate Identity (CI) Manual. New Era can reveal that NamPower paid N$235 000 for the CI Manual, which included the development and printing of ‘a number of copies’. Part of this was paid to Pure Publishing and Design CC, a South African company that confirmed they assisted NamPower’s marketing department in refreshing the logo.
Critics of the refreshed and quite subtle change to the brand, questioned the rationale behind the move with some calling it a waste of money at a time when the entire country is facing challenging economic conditions.
According to NamPower’s Manager for Corporate Communication and Marketing, Tangeni Kambangula, the refreshed logo formed part of internal process of developing a comprehensive Corporate Identity Manual.
“We requested for proposals from four agencies, based on a detailed brief from NamPower, to develop a comprehensive Corporate Identity Manual and we eventually picked the best proposal, which was by Pure Publishing and Design CC. NamPower decided to refresh its logo during the process of developing the Corporate Identity Manual, having celebrated 22 years of existence and the fact that it had never touched up on its logo since inception. Thus, the refresh of the logo forms part of a bigger project involving the production of a comprehensive Corporate Identity Manual. The production of the 120-page manual cost the company N$235 000, the majority of which went to the development and printing of a number of copies,” said Kambangula.
To announce the subtle refresh of their logo NamPower also placed advertorials in two local daily newspapers (Namibian & Republikein) at an additional cost of N$27 900.
“NamPower saw the need to communicate the change, though subtle, to inform its stakeholders about the change. This is especially given the fact that we have recently experienced fraudulent communications being send around to especially suppliers in the name of NamPower,” Kambangula explained.
The advertorials explaining the refreshed logo stated that the “NamPower’s recharged look is a sign of its renewed commitment to continue ensuring the security of supply for the country, now with more vigour and determination into the future”. The utility however emphasised that refreshed look is not a complete rebranding, but instead ‘a touch-up on the current brand identity’. The advertorial continued that the current logo is outdated regarding their colours and font.