Genesis Folds Three Brands Into One and Calls It 'Life At Full Power'

Utility rebrands are usually an exercise in damage control. Genesis has attempted something harder: convincing a country that its energy company is worth feeling something about.

The New Zealand generator-retailer has unified three legacy customer-facing brands under one masterbrand, with a refreshed platform — Life At Full Power — built by Bastion Aotearoa alongside the Genesis brand, marketing and digital teams. The programme ran for years, not weeks, and the scope reads like a full brand rebuild rather than a logo refresh: positioning, customer experience design, visual identity, sonic branding, tagline, internal launch, acquisition marketing, PR and a national integrated campaign.

At the centre sits the Sunburst identity, developed in collaboration with Genesis Kaimahi Māori and Kruger Wetere, the company's Pouhere Māori, and rooted in the pūrākau of Māui and his brothers slowing the sun. It is a rare thing in category branding: a visual device with an actual story behind it rather than a mood board.

The campaign itself is where the strategy earns its keep. Twelve stories run across television, out-of-home, audio, digital and social, directed by Jackie Van Beek with production partner Reel Factory, media through PHD and social through PHDC. The cast is deliberately unglamorous — mischievous dogs, cheeky neighbours, nervous fiancés, long-suffering spouses — because energy advertising has historically confused seriousness with credibility and won neither.

"Life At Full Power captures our ambition to help New Zealanders get more from the energy they use every day," said Steve Imm, general manager of brand, marketing and digital at Genesis. Bastion Aotearoa chief executive Toby Sellers framed it as an integration test: "Bringing three brands together into one was never simply a marketing challenge. It required the creation of an entirely refreshed brand world."

The proof points are product, not poetry. Power Shout now lets customers claim their discount against the most valuable hours from the previous 31 days, and EVerywhere extends home electricity rates to participating public ChargeNet chargers. That is the quiet argument underneath the humour: control is the benefit, and full power is what control feels like.