The National Broadband Network has ditched its positioning and branding after research revealed it “discouraged” users from taking up NBN services.

On Monday the NBN is launching the new positioning of “NBN: bring it on”, with a new branding which aims to create a sense of optimism and inspiration while it also aims to encourage people to harness their potential.

“At NBN we have been wrestling with the whole idea of do we need a prominent brand knowing we’re a wholesale organisation, or really can we continue as a project as we are at the moment,” NBN executive general manager of brand and insights Kent Heffernan told Mumbrella.

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“We believe that new brand positioning, visual identity and new brand strategy can really optimise and make all of our communications moving forward more efficient.”

Created by BWM Dentsu, the new positioning has been launched internally to staff today with it rolling out across the website and other collateral from Monday with the marketing campaign to roll out in a few weeks time with a regional focus.

“Over the next two weeks we’ll be rolling out the new look and feel and then a week after that the comms will go live which includes TV, outdoor, cinema, radio, digital and below the line. We will still be geographically targeting areas which can get the NBN today or within the next 12 months,” Heffernan said.

The NBN Co has already rolled through two phases of its logo, moving from a logo with the name in black text with an outline of Australia next to it to a similar logo which saw white text on a bright green background.

On the changes Heffernan said it was important to signal the company was changing and growing.

“It was also to signal change, it wasn’t just about going hey we’ve just made a tweak here. We do actually want to signal that things are changing from an acceleration, from a rollout, this isn’t just another type of broadband, this is a major step forward in internet access for all Australians,” he said.

“We wanted to create that interest without having to spend vast amounts on a national marketing campaign.”

The NBN’s research suggested consumers felt the NBN was uninspiring and inaccessible, with some consumers also discouraged from taking up the services based on the branding and marketing.

“When we did a lot of research and asked Australians how they perceived the NBN brand we were seen as probably not-accessible, a little bit boring and could be a lot more desirable,” said Heffernan.

When pushed on how the new positioning and marketing will change that Heffernan admitted the company does not expect it to make a significant difference to sales.

“We don’t think that a new logo or a new visual ID is going to make a significant difference to sign up and sales, but having a brand strategy and a very clear tone of voice, very clear proof points coupled with a new media strategy which will include TV moving forward, will make every ad put to market more effective,” he said.

“It is really about underpinning and giving ourselves a design system and framework to ensure that everything we do works a bit harder.”

LAst September NBN appointed BWM as its creative agency.

Miranda Ward