Brand refresh costs

22 July 2019

[Name and contact details redacted]

Dear [Name redacted]

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Thank you for your request dated 24 June 2019 under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) for information relating to PHARMAC’s brand refresh. You requested:

All costs associated with the "refresh" of the Pharmac brand including:

1.   All costs involved with the tender process;
2.    All costs paid to Gusto and any other party for the work done to refresh the Pharmac brand;
3.   All costs associated with refreshing the Pharmac brand including the changing of Pharmac resources, brand guidelines, internal and external templates, stationery, and the offices of Pharmac including windows. 

We refreshed our branding at the end of 2018 to incorporate a Māori expression into our name as a reflection of the contribution we aim to make as part of the health sector. We were one of the only crown entities that did not have a Māori name.

In response to your first question, there were no direct procurement costs in relation to the refresh as it was undertaken by PHARMAC staff.

In response to your second question, $17,522.50 plus GST was paid to Gusto for the brand refresh. This included the design work and brand guidelines.

In response to your third question, the total costs to date for PHARMAC’s brand refresh are $19,441.50 plus GST. This includes the cost of Gusto’s work outlined above, and costs for office signage.

We have taken a staged approach to implementing the change and some work is ongoing. Business cards and stationery are being updated with the new brand as and when new supply is needed.

The money for PHARMAC’s brand refresh came from our operational funding budget. The Combined Pharmaceutical Budget, and the operational budget that PHARMAC receives from Government to run its business are two completely separate streams of funding.  The Combined Pharmaceutical Budget can only be used to fund medicines and not PHARMAC’s operations, and vice-versa.

Please note that PHARMAC approaches its assessment of requests for information under the OIA on the basis that, once released, the information becomes publicly available - in other words once we release the information to you it becomes available to any other party in that exact form (whether by you distributing it to others or by virtue of us receiving the same request from a different third party). 

We trust that this information answers your queries.  We are making our information more freely available, so we will now publish selected OIA responses (excluding personal details) on our website.  Please get in touch with us if you have any questions about this.

Yours sincerely

[Alison Hill's signature]

Alison Hill
Director, Engagement and Implementation