Will’s Word: Is the Opportunities Party rebranded enough to shift NZ's voters?

Now every political party gets one chance to reinvent itself in a way that actually lands with voters. A clean slate, a fresh face, a chance to say this is who we are now.

So when the Opportunity Party unveiled its new leader and new brand this week, I was ready to be excited. And to be fair, the leadership change? Great move. She's sharp, articulate and authentic.

I watched Qiulae’s interview on Q and A. She had that rare quality politicians can't fake. She's very steady and there was a clarity to her as well. I genuinely believe she could carry the party further than any leader they've had.

But then came the visual rebrand. And look, I'm not trying to be dramatic, but it felt less like a political moment and more like the launch of a new insurance brand. Because branding matters hugely.

And right now, TOP’s new look feels like it might have been designed by someone who was terrified of accidentally letting the party look exciting. It's safe, it's sanitary and it's technically modern.

But it's missing warmth, energy, movement, the very things you need when you're trying to go from fringe to viable. And I say this with love. Before journalism, I worked in brand marketing.

I helped with a visual identity for a radio network that seven years later still looks fresh, still captures its personality, and still tells you exactly what that station stands for the moment you see it. That's what great design does.

It lives, it evolves, it carries emotion. Political parties understand this. ACT reads refresh, making them look like a party with momentum. It's bold, it's vibrant. Nationals overhaul before 2017, reestablish them as the clean, competent alternative.

I can still remember that brand refresh. Labour and the Greens constantly adapt to their base, because modern politics is branding. TOP has something those parties don't, a genuinely unique colour.

Teal could be their entire identity, fresh, bold, future focused. But you've got to own it, push it, and make it mean something. Instead, TOP has produced a look that feels like it was designed to avoid offending anyone, and in the process, fails to excite anyone.

That’s a problem, because substance alone won't get you past 5 per cent, or 2.5 per cent should I say. We live in a political era where emotion, I'm sorry to say, moves voters faster than policy ever will.

As a political nerd, I admire TOP's commitment to being policy driven, I always have. But that's the problem, I'm a political nerd. Without a brand that signals ambition, dare I say humanity and energy, their ideas won't reach the people who need to hear them.

I'll say this though, the new leader, I like. Promising. She deserves a brand that rises to meet her. What she's been given instead is polite, safe and corporate. A political party shouldn't look like it's selling life insurance, ironically.

So here's my two cents, not that anyone asked for it, If TOP wants to shift the dial, it needs to stop being afraid of standing out. Teal is their superpower. But Teal needs personality, urgency and boldness.

I want to look at a billboard for the Opportunity Party and say, ‘wow, you've got my attention’. Because right now the rebrand looks like a reset. It doesn't feel like a relaunch and that's what they need.

That’s Will’s Word.

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