Splintering Nalcor
Breaking up is expensive to do
The big talk this week — Budget 2018 aside — was about the pending breakup.
George and Amal? No, they’re thick as thieves.
William and Kate? Still cuddling up in their castle, by all accounts.
Harry and Meghan — my God, they’re not even married yet!
No, the big breakup is between Nalcor and its oil and gas subsidiary. Word came this week that the province plans to spin oil and gas off into its own Crown corporation so that it can stand on its own two feet, well out from under the hulking shadow of the $12.7-billion behemoth, Muskrat Falls.
And who wouldn’t want to disassociate themselves from that?
So, after 10 years as one big happy family, oil and gas is parting ways with Nalcor. And after all the fanfare of their union!
Remember when Danny Williams unleashed our energy powerhouse to the world? They were all — he, Kathy Dunderdale, Ed Martin — waxing poetic about Nalcor’s strength and potential as a unified force back then.
The Dec. 11, 2008 news release was gushing: “The Nalcor Energy symbol embodies balance, movement and transformation. With curved, arching shapes, it has a constant sense of motion — representing the flow of energy, wind, water and oil. The movement in the symbol speaks to growth, mirroring the evolving nature of the energy industry and positioning Nalcor Energy as a leading, global player.
“Because the existing brand of Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro has been a strong anchor in the development of Nalcor Energy, the blue used draws upon the Hydro logo for continuity, while also representing water, wind and the environment. The grey represents oil and gas, the powerful earth and it anchors the logo — speaking to a strong parent company.”
Now, anyone who’s ever been through a breakup knows they are never cheap.
It’s not like the Nalcor folks can just go onto their website and X out all references to oil and gas, divvy up the office furniture and get the grey out of their logo.
No, far from it. Oil and gas, in whatever uber-cool corporate incarnation the province comes up with — Oil ’n’ Gas NL? Nalcoil and gas? Made-right-here Oil and Gas? Republic of Oil (and Gas)? — needs to forge its own identity so that potential investors will forget all about the years it spent under the big tent of Nalcor (Home of the Muskrat Falls Project).
Yes, I agree it sounds a little like trying to plant a modest ornamental shrub in front of an elephant and hoping no one sees the elephant anymore.
But companies do that all the time, and it often makes sense. It’s new-look oil and gas! Now with 100 per cent oil and gas, zero per cent boondoggle!
The problem is, despite Natural Resources Minister Siobhan Coady’s protestations to the contrary, rebranding costs money.
Why, the liquor board in Ontario spent half a million dollars in 2014 to update its image, and it wasn’t creating a new corporation. That was just a “refresh.”
With Republic of Oil (and Gas) — that’s my favourite so far — we’re not just talking a facelift, but a whole new corporate identity. That means new signage, website, logo, graphics, stationery, colour scheme, email addresses, mission statement, marketing strategy, mindset massaging, and so on.
Coady was insisting in the House of Assembly on Wednesday that there would be no expense involved.
“We don’t anticipate any costs; at this point it’s merely taking the organization as it stands right now and taking it outside of the Nalcor corporation. … At the risk of repeating myself, Mr. Speaker, we’re not expecting any costs involved in this change at all, Mr. Speaker.”
Let’s hope she’s right. Because this province simply cannot afford to spend thousands of dollars on rebranding at a time when it can barely keep ahead of the bill collector.
And, frankly, the government can plant all the well-trimmed shrubs it wants. But there’s no mistaking the elephant we’re all shackled to.
Pam Frampton is a columnist whose work is published in The Western Star and The Telegram. She is The Telegram’s associate managing editor. Email pamela.frampton@thetelegram.com. Twitter: pam_frampton