Update: UK's Aviva Enlists ALICE COOPER, RINGO STARR For New Branding Campaign
January 7, 2009, 15 years ago
Tracey Scott from Moneymarketing.co.uk is reporting:
A new year has signalled a new name for Norwich Union in the UK, to be rebranded Aviva in June this year. Internationally, the firm has been known as Aviva for several years and the listed company has gone by the name since 2002.
To familiarise the public with this name change the provider has drafted in Walter Willis, Eleanor Gow, Richard Starkey, Vincent Furnier and Barry Humphries to front an advertising campaign - that's BRUCE WILLIS, ELLE MACPHERSON, RINGO STARR, ALICE COOPER and DAME EDNA EVERAGE to normal folk.
The City may well have known it as Aviva for some time, but IFAs tend to be sceptics when it comes to brand changes and would usually rather firms retain their original name. But such concerns may be assuaged by the fact Aviva is certainly determined to spend big to get the new brand into the consciousness of policyholders and consumers. For the next six months, it will be running the campaign across national media promoting the idea that a name change equals success.
Of all the component Aviva UK companies that now make up NU, it was usually regarded as the strongest brand, certainly more so than the slightly awkward CGU and arguably especially on the life and pensions side, better recognised than Commercial Union or General Accident.
But the Aviva case, put by chief marketing officer Amanda Mackenzie is as follows.
"We are very proud that Norwich Union started 200 years ago, selling protection against fire and highway robbery. As Aviva we are now the fifth largest insurer in the world. As our business becomes increasingly global, we need one name customers can recognise, wherever they are.""One name means a unified company, allowing us to share our knowledge and expertise with customers around the world. The new advertising campaign communicates our name change in a dynamic and vibrant way, signaling that this is the beginning of an even better way of doing things for our customers."
Read more here.
