NZ cricketers the Black Caps to wear ANZ logo, not National Bank one, in series against Australia

As their test match against Australia begins at Brisbane's famous Gabba ground today, the Black Caps won't feature the National Bank logo on their shirts as they did on recent Zimbabwe tour. Rather, sister bank ANZ's logo will feature.

The move comes amid speculation over the future of the National Bank brand with a review of its ongoing use by the parent ANZ group "parked"for now, according to ANZ New Zealand CEO David Hisco.

An ANZ NZ spokesman told interest.co.nz not to read anything into the ANZ logo replacing the National Bank one on the cricketers' shirts. This has followed other such moves including the replacement by ANZ of the National Bank as sponsor of TV ONE News. He said the National Bank doesn't have branding rights on the Black Caps when they are playing overseas.

"We sponsor the National Bank Series, which is international Cricket played in New Zealand, and when the Black Caps play in that series we have the rights as the competition sponsor to have the National Bank logo on the kit. So the National Bank logo will be back on the kit when they return for The National Bank Series in NZ later in the summer," the ANZ spokesman said.

"NZ Cricket gave ANZ National the opportunity for additional branding on the Black Caps kit during a brief transition of Black Caps team sponsor. This additional opportunity concludes at the end of the current Australian test series. It made sense to use the international ANZ brand - which is recognisable in NZ and Australia - when playing in Australia."

Use of the ANZ logo in the high profile New Zealand-Australia series comes after a big increase by ANZ NZ in advertising spend on the ANZ brand and a big drop in promoting the National Bank brand. Figures supplied to interest.co.nz by Nielsen AIS show ANZ NZ spent NZ$17.7 million on advertising the ANZ brand in the eight months to August 31 this year, compared with just NZ$14.6 million in the entire 2010 calendar year. In contrast, National Bank advertising spending totaled just NZ$2.3 million in the eight months to August, compared with NZ$16.7 million in 2010.

Meanwhile, the ANZ spokesman said  a decision would be needed on the brands "in due course."

"There is no urgency, as we renewed the Lloyds trademark (used for the National Bank) until 2014."

The ANZ Group bought National Bank from Britain's Lloyds TSB in October 2003 for A$4.915 billion, excluding a dividend paid to Lloyds of NZ$575 million from National Bank's retained earnings, and retained both the ANZ and National Bank brands and branch networks. Last year ANZ renewed its rights to use the Lloyds black horse on a green and white background as the National Bank logo until the end of 2014.

The National Bank sponsorship of international cricket in New Zealand goes back about 11 years, before the bank's acquisition by ANZ, when it was led by renowned cricket lover Sir John Anderson.

A "huge" amount of work had been done to get the two brands working closely together and providing a better service and product offering to customers, said the ANZ spokesman, with this paying off through customer satisfaction results.

"Regardless of decisions on brand, we are absolutely committed to maintaining ANZ New Zealand as the largest branch network in New Zealand with the largest number of people supporting our customers."

The recent sponsorship of the Rugby World Cup was the biggest in the ANZ group's history with Mike Cunnington, ANZ NZ's head of marketing, telling interest.co.nz last month the sponsorship period coincided with a solid rise in ANZ customer numbers.