Eskom, the state-owned electricity supplier, has launched a multi-million-rand tender to design a new company logo and develop a new corporate identity. The tender document states that Eskom needs a new corporate identity to represent its new structure with three independent subsidiaries – Generation, Transmission, and Distribution. The tender has extensive requirements, including designing a slew of printed and digital assets, marketing material, and online assets. The cost of designing and executing a new logo and corporate identity for Eskom is only the tip of the iceberg. To rebrand, a company has to change the logo on all its buildings, digital assets, printed materials, and much more. It will cost a fortune. The tender has not disclosed the price details, but agencies who tendered for the project were asked to assume a budget of R5 million per entity in their presentations. This move has been criticized by the DA’s shadow minister of public enterprises, Ghaleb Cachalia, who called it a completely unnecessary vanity project that contributes nothing towards solving South Africa’s load-shedding crisis. He added that a new Eskom logo will also not help consumers who are struggling to pay sky-high electricity prices. Instead of looking to increase generation capacity and do away with load-shedding permanently, Eskom thinks it is necessary to focus on sprucing up their image. He said the millions associated with the logo and rebranding contract could be better spent elsewhere 1.
However, South Africans have come up with free designs for Eskom’s new logo. The designs are being offered by anonymous investors from Limpopo, Saudi Arabia, and Dubai, as well as one of Botswana’s richest politicians. The designs are said to be innovative and could even glow in the dark. Eskom has not yet responded to the offer 1.
Conclusion: Eskom’s decision to spend millions on a new logo design has been met with criticism, especially considering the company’s financial position and the ongoing load-shedding crisis. However, South Africans have come up with free designs that could potentially save Eskom millions of rands. It remains to be seen whether Eskom will accept the offer 1