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The Christchurch Brand

The Christchurch Brand

What will ‘brand Christchurch’ look like in 10, 20 or 50 years’ time? asks Campbell Venning.

By: Campbell Venning

1 December 2015

The best definition I have heard of ‘brand’ is that it’s a “promise made and a promise kept”.

So if you agree with me that a brand is best described as a promise kept, what’s Christchurch’s brand going to be like in 10, 20 or 40 years? 100 years? We are a very young country by international standards and we punch well above our weight on so many levels other than the game of rugby.

When New Zealand’s population has grown to over 5 million people (estimated to happen in early 2030s) and the South Island has grown by 20%, what will Christchurch feel like? What will its culture be like? When the $4 billion (and rising) investment into the new Christchurch has all been spent and the road cones, cranes, scaffolding and road works are all gone, what will it look like? Imagine all of the new infrastructure works, government projects, commercial projects and retail developments when they have all been finished.

Then think about your current home or investment portfolio and compare it with new, double-glazed property constructed with the latest building technology and construction methodologies. Raft foundations, engineered piles, and prefabricated tilt slab walls with service ducting already in place. Engineered design solutions that put urban planning ahead of mass-producing high-density ugly, concrete boxes.

Christchurch will take at least 10 more years to complete and along the journey developers and builders are constantly looking at emerging construction technology. This means engineering and design methodology that doesn’t exist today will be part of Christchurch's future. World Cup final stuff when you put it into context.

As a rugby nut I know I write too much about the beautiful game in this column so I promise this will be the last one of these rugby-themed articles. (Okay, at least until the Lion’s tour in 2017). But in the wake of what those amazing All Blacks achieved from a population base of 4.5 million people, how can I not?

No one outside of New Zealand imagined we could win back-to-back rugby world cups and the ground-breaking construction in Christchurch at present can certainly be compared with this and it’s fantastic to be part of it.

‘Brand Christchurch’ will be worth a serious amount of dosh when the dust has finally settled. To put the value of a brand in dollar terms, Fairfax recently printed that an international brand consultancy value the All Black's brand at over $251 million. Before the final they had estimated 'brand All Blacks' at $197 million – meaning the greatest 80 minutes of rugby I have ever watched was worth $54 million or $675,000 of added value per minute!

And, finally, as I write this I have learnt of the tragic news about the most humble of Kiwi guys who put the All Blacks onto the World Stage in 1995, passing at the far too young age of 40.

R.I.P Jonah Lomu 1975 – 2015.

The greatest 80 minutes of rugby I have ever watched was worth $54 Million or $675,000 of added value per minute. - Campbell Venning

Campbell Venning has been investing in property for over 20 years and is a director of Positive Real Estate, a New Zealand and Australian business that educates customers in long-term, low-risk investing as well as providing a licensed real estate agency exclusively for their clients. Visit wwwpositiverealestate. co.nz to find out more.

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