Te Kaha on 9 September, 2024. Photo: Christchurch City Council
The Te Kaha brand risks being smothered by corporate sponsorship for Christchurch's new $683 million arena if stadium managers fail to breathe new life into the name, marketing experts warn.
The city council spent more than $86,000 developing the Te Kaha brand and website, according to figures released to RNZ by its event management arm Venues Ōtautahi under the Local Government Information and Meetings Act.
Ngāi Tūāhuriri gifted the names Te Kaha to the arena and Te Kaharoa, meaning "enduring strength", to the whenua in 2021, but the venue will now be known as One New Zealand Stadium after the telecommunications company paid an undisclosed sum for naming rights.
At the time, the council said the name would not limit potential sponsorship rights.
Te Kaha's brand development cost $56,999, while $29,505 was spent on Te Kaha's website design and development - now the One New Zealand Stadium website.
Although Venues Ōtautahi argued the expenses were not "sunk costs" because Te Kaha would remain the name of the precinct and become an entertainment hub, Auckland University of Technology macromarketing professor Ben Wooliscroft said the One New Zealand brand would dominate.
"The headline brand, the one that's on the tickets, the one that's on the advertising for the events and the one that connects easiest to our consciousness or our history is the one that's likely to win out. People will talk about going to One stadium," he said.
"One has an advantage because it's in your pocket. It's on the Warriors' jerseys, it's all over the place."
Proper investment was needed to make the Te Kaha brand a success, Wooliscroft said.
"If council has spent the tens of thousands they have and stops at that, then they're sunk costs and they're going to watch the One stadium brand walk all over it," he said.
"Any branding that you set up and don't nurture is going to be a sunk cost, it's going to die. It will just wither away."
Massey University marketing analytics professor Bodo Lang said Te Kaha's value depended on the council's commitment to developing the brand.
"In the short-term, we can very much see the One New Zealand brand smothering the Te Kaha brand because of the stadium attached to it, that's probably the main attraction.
"The Te Kaha brand is there and it's nice, but it's unclear at present what its value is.
"It's a tightrope walk. Money comes first, as it often does. Ratepayers want lower rates and getting corporate sponsorship is one way to achieve that," he said.
Venues Ōtautahi chief executive Caroline Harvie-Teare was not available for an interview, but in response to written questions said people had connected with the name Te Kaha.
"The activation of the precinct will take some time as the venue and its surrounding activations come to life, but the name Te Kaha will still be referenced in way-finding around the precinct and for any activities, separate to those happening in the stadium, that happen around One New Zealand Stadium," she said.
Harvie-Teare said an "activation strategy" was being developed for the Te Kaha precinct.
"This could include hosting events in the public realm and fan zones for example. Longer term the sites around One New Zealand Stadium could be considered by landowners as other entertainment venues, hospitality, retail, and tourism activations for example.
"When mega events are held at the venue (such as a FIFA tournament) the stadium will be referred to as Te Kaha Stadium."
Consideration was given to retaining Te Kaha in the stadium's name, Harvie-Teare said.
The cost was met by Te Kaha Project Delivery Limited, the council company responsible for the project.
Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger said Ngāi Tūāhuriri was happy with the stadium sponsorship deal.
He likened the situation to Wellington's waterfront Sky Stadium - known colloquially as the 'Cake Tin'.
"They don't say, 'I'm whipping down to [Sky]' - they say 'I'm whipping down to the Cake Tin'," he said.
"It will get a name somewhere down the line, 'I'm whipping down to One' or 'I'm whipping down to Te Kaha'."
A Ngāi Tūāhuriri spokeswoman declined to comment.
The Te Kaha brand was developed by advertising agency Plato and won silver at last year's Designers Institute of New Zealand Best Design Awards in the large brand identity category.
The arena, which is due to open in April 2026, is the last of the 16 "anchor projects" considered necessary to regenerate the city centre following the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes.
The roofed stadium will have 30,000 seats - 25,000 permanent and 5000 temporary - and room for 36,000 concert-goers.