Steve West and Bailey Gorst from ChargeNet explain the positive impacts our brand journey had on their business.
“I think it was clear after being in business for six years that the brand could do with a refresh. We were starting to move from being a niche operator to a lot more mainstream, and clearly the logo we had was designed at a really specific point in time. It was time for us to refresh the brand and, in doing so, refresh the website and the signage on our charging stations.
When deciding to go with Re:brand, we made that choice because Tim was really able to understand our needs quite quickly. We have lots of different offerings, but Tim quickly picked that up and understood what would be needed to take ChargeNet’s brand to the next level.
The part of the rebranding process that I enjoyed the most was actually taking the time to step back, go into the customer insights, and hear directly from our customers about what they thought of ChargeNet and their suggestions for how we could improve their understanding of our business.
What I really appreciated about Re:brand was that they really listened to what was important to us. You could imagine a rebranding process is always going to have emotion attached to it. You don’t want to shock people with something that’s radically different. So it was really important for us to land on something that provided continuity with our old branding, instead of trying to impose something on us that we weren’t comfortable with.
They were able to take the best ideas from all the different possibilities, along with what we had made clear we desired, and meld those together into a nice, sleek new brand.
It doesn’t really hit you until you see it. You see it in print or you see it on the website. I think that was a real moment for me, when the new website was launched. It was just like, wow, this looks professional.
Since the new website and brand went live, we have seen a return on investment already. We are receiving a number of business to business leads, more enquiries, more newsletter signups, and more website traffic.
By going through this process, ChargeNet now has a recognisable and memorable brand. We give Kiwis the confidence to move around in their electric vehicles, and we now have a brand that lives up to what we stand for, which is being reliable, uncomplicated and innovative. The new brand is really strong and it tells that story. Everyone loves it.
It really put a stake in the ground and said, OK, up until now we’ve been doing what we’ve been doing. It’s been fun, but now it’s time to get serious.
If you’re in a company that is at that point where you feel like you’re maturing and you want to embody that professionalism in your brand, then absolutely, Re:brand’s the way to go.”
Feedback on the new brand
What measurable results have you seen post the brand work?
Since launching ChargeNet’s new brand identity in June 2021 we have seen a noticeable increase across the board. Our sales team is busier than ever with an upsurge in commercial sales enquiries, our social media engagement has increased 650% year-on-year and our new website is seeing a significant boost in page views, new user visits and a longer average session duration.
What feedback from staff have you had? Any quotes?
The feedback that we have received from the team has been overwhelmingly positive with the entire team supportive of the new brand identity and strategy.
– Sarah Cuff – Customer Services Manager
A director’s testimonial
We’re incredibly proud to launch ChargeNet’s brand refresh, which is the first update to the brand since our first charging station launched more than five years ago with a logo created in Photoshop. Keeping the core elements of our previous logo allows us to update our existing network gradually while we put most of our resources into expanding our nationwide network of chargers for our valued and loyal customers. Our research revealed that most people who recognised our brand were those who dealt with us on a regular basis, such as our commercial partners and existing customers. We wanted to boost visibility of our brand and make our driver collateral such as key fobs a desirable product that users were proud to
show off.
Our new, modern branding aligns with the next phase of our business strategy, which is focused on educating the general public about the extensive network of chargers already available and to encourage more New Zealand businesses to adopt EVs as fleet vehicles.
The rebranding efforts come at a pivotal moment in the EV movement in New Zealand with the market shifting more positively towards electric vehicles. With our expertise and track record, along with our new identity ChargeNet has established ourselves as an industry leader.
How has the brand work helped your business?
Our old branding was inconsistent and often muddled due to a lack of brand ownership. In this process we have had to step back to review our messaging and customer touchpoints in order to build a purpose driven brand. Our new brand messages are clear and concise and allow us to quickly convey what is often seen as a confusing topic. Ultimately we feel the brand work will help us build brand affinity, appeal to a new target audience, attract top-tier companies and educate consumers and businesses on the importance of transitioning to electric vehicles and reducing climate damaging emissions.
Client/customer feedback?
The new brand takes ChargeNet from a start-up, to a more easily recognisable and modern brand with a bold identity. The brand has evolved to command attention and stand out from competitors and it is now a true reflection of the unique value proposition that ChargeNet represents.
– Jasmine Roxborough – Sales Operations & Project Manager, YHI Energy.
Loving the new colours and branding, very fresh and stands out significantly more than it used to. Makes seeing and finding ChargeNet chargers when travelling really easy and a great improvement to the image of ChargeNet, well done with the update.
– Graeme Fenemor – Customer and EV Driver.
Since the first of the year of ChargeNet providing Fast Chargers for Electric Vehicles in the South Island of New Zealand I have been an enthusiastic customer and supporter of the company and its ideals. I thought the original logo was brilliant – the positive and negative signs indicative of a battery and the inclusion of the smiling face. The new logo has retained those points I appreciated and by reducing the number of colours from four to two has become more “formal” – which in a way has followed my own experience as I moved from an early “toy” EV to a more formal one. The colour change of their Chargers from predominantly black to a bright red has made it much easier to find a fast charger in a large, busy supermarket carpark. This is a significant improvement practically since I have had occasions where I have, in the past, driven a couple of times around an unfamiliar park searching for the thin monolith that is the DC fast charger. Similarly, it will make it much more obvious to a non-EV owner that the space is used for an important purpose, and reduce the number of accidental intrusions by cars using an older fuel source. The ChargeNet website has remained simple and easy to navigate but is now more standardized in fonts, menu sizes and colour to match the new branding.
– Martin Kane – Customer and EV Driver.
I was excited to see the new branding for Chargenet recently unveiled. The new branding is fresh, simplified and pleasing to the eye. It has a sharp, crisp look and I’m looking forward to seeing this new branding appear on the existing Chargenet chargers and any new chargers being installed.
– Vanessa Nicholls – Customer and EV Driver.
