In an interesting move, Radio New Zealand has dropped the word ‘Radio’ from their name and decided they wish to be called RNZ. Despite the radio industry showing growth in New Zealand, Paul Thompson explains why he feels this re-branding is necessary for the public broadcaster.

[quotes style=”classic” align=”center” author=”Paul Thompson, RNZ Chief Executive”]

We’re now reaching hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders every month, online and on-demand. This change is just a small way of reflecting that shift.

If you look at organisations that are similar to RNZ like the BBC, the ABC, NPR, they all use those acronyms to illustrate what they do not just on radio but across all platforms and that is very much where RNZ is now.

We don’t want to be defined by Radio. We are no longer focused just on radio, radio remains immensely important, but we are doing all these other things as well and they are all about high quality programming and journalism however you get it.

We are having to evolve as an our organisation because our audience is changing, and that’s the signal we are trying to send.

[/quotes]

The acronym RNZ is now being used on-air and a website update scheduled next year will see the change propagate across online branding. Paul Thompson quoted low marketing budgets for the decision being based on an internal process, and changes to branding materials would be progressive.

With the growth in digital and interactive media, it will be interesting to see how this small change shift’s people’s perception of the brand.

Mediawatch looks at how a previous effort to re-badge the broadcaster didn’t go to plan. Click here to listen.

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