How in late 2021 then Prime Minister #ScottyFromMarketing Morrison spent $220,296 his government couldn't afford on a BOM logo change & creating 9 new Twitter handles

Over four months since the nation rejected the Morrison Coalition Government, sending is members to the Opposition benches, the poor decisions of then prime minister Scott Morrison and his cabinet ministers are still coming to light. 

In this case Morrison was helped along by his then minister for the environment Sussan Ley, now ensconced as Deputy Leader of the Opposition and probably hoping no-one remembers that the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) was in her ministerial portfolio when this downright silly decision was made.

The Bureau of Meteorology no longer wants to be called "the BoM" pic.twitter.com/C7dhN2e51L

— @MartySilk (@MartySilkHack) October 17, 2022

The Guardian, 19 October 2022:

Revealed: BoM rebranding and logo cost $220,000 as Plibersek shoots down weather bureau’s name change

The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, has shot down the Bureau of Meteorology’s request for people not to call it “the BoM”, saying Australians should be free to call it whatever they like as the full cost of the rebrand has been revealed.

The BoM rebrand cost more than $220,000, including cash to update the organisation’s visual style and logo, conduct research, develop pull-up banners and support media engagement.

“My focus and the focus of the BoM should be on weather, not branding,” Plibersek said on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the agency formerly known as the BoM asked media organisations to only refer to it by its full name, or shorthand as “the Bureau” – not the widely used initialism BoM. The media-wide alert sparked derision online after it was discovered that the Bureau appeared to have failed to reserve the Twitter accounts it had announced it planned to move to.

The letters BOM seen over a satellite view outline of Australia

Guardian Australia understands the change, detailed in an email bearing a new bureau logo, was part of a wider rebrand that commenced under the previous Coalition government and had been under way for some 18 months.

It was reported yesterday that a $69,300 contract had been awarded in September 2021 to Melbourne’s C Word Communications Agency for “branding of product naming services” and “brand implementation”.

The full cost of the rebranding exercise was $220,296.

Plibersek’s office said The C Word’s contract covered “communication and implementation planning support”. Another $118,177 was awarded to another agency, Era-Co, for brand strategy and design services, including visual style, brand position and logo, as well as research.

Another $32,819 was spent on “implementation costs” for the rebrand, including development of pull-up banners to support community engagement and media engagement for each state and territory, as well as design support to update collateral, systems and tools.

Era-Co was granted a $50,000 contract for “brand framework” for the Bureau of Meteorology, according to a notice published on the AusTender website in September 2020; then another $80,000 contract for “visual identity development”, according to a notice published in December 2020; and $17,820 for “design services”, in a notice published in August 2021.

The C Word’s $69,3000 contract for “brand implementation” was published September 2021.

“I have asked for the information about the full cost of the whole rebrand project, which was undertaken under the previous government,” Plibersek said.

“I’ve released that publicly. Now it’s time to let the Bureau of Meteorology get on with what it does best – predict the weather to help keep Australians safe.”

The environment minister said on Tuesday she did not “quite understand” why the bureau commenced a rebrand to update its name and logo, saying she was not focused on those factors during the severe flooding across much of the eastern seaboard. On Wednesday she appeared to rebuff the bureau’s calls to be referred to by another name.

“The Bureau of Meteorology, the BoM – Australians will make up their own minds about what they call it,” Plibersek said.

“What matters is accurate and timely weather information for communities, particularly during severe weather like we’re experiencing right now. That’s where my focus is. People are hurting.”…...

Several new Twitter handles proposed by the bureau, including @TheBureau_NSW and @TheBureau_AU, were quickly snapped up by ordinary users on Tuesday. A Bureau spokesperson said on Tuesday it was “working closely with Twitter to rectify this, in the meantime, all existing BOM Twitter handles remain active”.

By Wednesday, all those accounts were either suspended or free to use, having been vacated by the users who had parked on those handles…... [my yellow highlighting]

The Guardian, 18 October 2022:

The name change – which has been broadly ridiculed, and criticised for its rollout as many Australians face devastating floods – was, in part, driven by Jack Walden, according to insiders. Walden appears to have won the contract for the consultancy company, and been hired by the Bureau shortly afterwards.

In September 2021, the Bureau awarded a $69,300 contract to the C Word Communications Agency for “branding of product naming services and “brand implementation”.

C Word’s “chief communicator” until December 2021 was Jack Walden.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Walden started as senior manager, communications delivery at the Bureau in November 2021. The crossover in his employment dates has not been explained.

Guardian Australia understands the rebrand was broadly unpopular among existing staff, but that the Bureau insisted that not only it be implemented, but that staff only use the new terms.

One insider said they were made to use the new term, and another said they were treated “like naughty schoolchildren” if they slipped up and referred to the BoM instead.

Plibersek told Guardian Australia that “during this time of severe weather and flood disaster, I’m not focused on the name of the agency”.

“I am focused on making sure the Bureau of Meteorology is providing the most accurate and timely information to communities affected by floods,” she said.

“The rebrand commenced under the previous government for reasons I don’t quite understand.”……

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Absolute rookie mistake by the Bureau of Meteorology to announce what they were changing their Twitter handle to BEFORE they actually did it 😆 pic.twitter.com/O6kqpg2D6v

— Keelan (@I_am_da_BOM) October 18, 2022

@BOM_au Acronyms I frequently use when discussing serious issues on limited letter count Twitter : AM, PM, GMT, AEDT, NSW, ABC, SBS, CSIRO, EPA, AMA, ICAC, AFP, PMC, MP, NASA, UN, and of course BOM. Get used to it, Dr. Johnson! Your new Twitter handle will be 6 spaces too long.

— no_filter_Yamba (@no_filter_Yamba) October 19, 2022

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UPDATE:

By late afternoon on Thursday 20 October 2022, the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) had walked back on its rebranding demands.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 4:05 pm: 

The Bureau of Meteorology has backed down on its planned rebranding, saying people can still refer to the weather agency as “the BoM” – or anything else they like. The backflip follows the BoM’s announcement on Tuesday that it wanted media agencies to refer to it as “the Bureau” or its full name rather than “BoM”.....

following the subsequent public outcry and ridicule over the mooted move, the organisation said it would now stick with the BoM moniker. “The community is welcome to refer to the Bureau in any way they wish, including referring to us as the BoM,” the spokesperson said.