Spark New ZealandCopied

Telecom announced in February 2014 that it would change its name to Spark, and its ASX announcement of 1 July set the date: Friday 8 August 2014. The listed company became Spark New Zealand, the ticker moved from TEL to SPK, and the business unit Gen-i became Spark Digital.

The symbol did not change. Telecom had introduced the burst in October 2009, and Jason Paris, Spark's general manager for home, mobile and business, told Scoop that staff were already calling it the spark. The February release said the new name would carry with it the widely recognised logo. What changed is the wordmark: the lowercase telecom with its small nz gave way to Spark, set in green with the symbol.

Chief executive Simon Moutter said in the ASX announcement that "Spark is much more than just a new name". Not everyone was convinced. RNZ reported a budget of about 20 million dollars for the change, and quoted marketing academics who were divided over dropping one of the best known brands in the country. The 2014 annual report was the first published under the Spark name.