City embraces Palmy
The long and cumbersome name of Palmerston North is giving way to the affectionate abbreviation Palmy in the city council’s new logo.
The refreshed image launched yesterday is rugby green, with an arrow pointing up and the Ma¯ori name Papaioea incorporated into the design.
City council chief executive Heather Shotter said it was high time that the council, and partners in the city’s development and marketing, adopted a brand better suited to the city’s strengths than its 30-year-old badge. It needed to start rolling out a single, coherent logo to gradually replace myriad signs and designs that decorated city and council assets and communications.
Palmerston North would remain the city’s official name and its crest would still be used in formal settings, she said. But the council wanted to adopt the colloquial name that both residents and people around New Zealand used, ‘‘like a term of endearment’’, and acknowledge Palmy’s bicultural foundations.
Shotter said council staff, contacts and an external consultant had been working on the new identity and its underlying principles before Covid-19 struck.
‘‘It’s not just a name, it’s the story behind that,’’ said council general manager for venues Sachahaskell.
The central themewas about claiming the city’s role as the food innovation capital of New Zealand. Shotter said the city was young, innovative and growing, with agriculture, science and research, and distribution as the keys to its prosperity.
Her summary was more than just wishful thinking, with ASB’S latest quarterly regional economic scoreboard putting Manawatu¯ and Whanganui at the top of the leader board.
Shotter said $50,000 had been spent on outside advice on the refreshed image and logo, but that investment would start paying back in just over a year.
Council stationery would be among the first places the new logo would be used, and it had already influenced the signs that would appear in the makeover of CET Arena. Other assets such as new vehicles would be dressed in the new livery, with signs in parks and other council facilities changing as they needed replacing.
Shotter said she had been gobsmacked by the range of more than 75 different logos, badges, typefaces and colours used in council signs, and by the amount of duplicated time and expense that had gone into creating them.
Having one, single range of branding was expected to save $55,000 a year in the cost of designing alternatives.
Haskell said the confusing array of signs contributed to the problem that even residents did not know what facilities and services the council provided.
Mayor Grant Smith is on board with the fresh look. ‘‘We are at the heart of the Manawatu¯, growing food in the agriculture engine of the country’s economy,’’ he said. ‘‘We are a vital link in distributing food throughout New Zealand’s logistics and transport network, and we are central to food innovation.’’
He said the fresh brand complemented the council’s small-city benefits and big-city ambition values.
The council wanted to adopt the colloquial name that both residents and people around New Zealand used.