Anyone know why The Norwich Union has been renamed Aviva ?

[Mich the Tester]

Thing is that Aviva DID try and use the abbreviation CGNU, but no one liked it, so they plumped for the Aviva brand some years back.

SO they could easily have researched which was more popular of 'Cheltenham and Gloucester' or 'Norwich Union' and plumped for that one. Or indeed 'Norwich and Gloucester'.

[Foxy Moron]

i think they should have called it Wallace Willis

[Clippy]

Isn't Aviva what Speedy Gonzales used to shout before shooting off.

Aviva, Aviva, Andalay, Andalay....

[Foxy Moron]

[AlfredJPruffock]

Some kind of Tax Dodge no doubt.

[NickNick]

SO they could easily have researched which was more popular of 'Cheltenham and Gloucester' or 'Norwich Union' and plumped for that one. Or indeed 'Norwich and Gloucester'.

Heh, aye, cos nothing says "international company" like Norwich and Gloucester. ;o)

[Mich the Tester]

Heh, aye, cos nothing says "international company" like Norwich and Gloucester. ;o)

That's the point; there's nothing wrong with a regional name if you want to trade internationally. It gives people something they can identify. People buy pensions from Swiss Life. They put their money into the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank long before it was called HSBC. People bought into San Pellegrino, which is a place (and a rip off, but that's besides the point). Wine isn't sold under names like 'Boozions'; it's sold by it's regional name. Stop trying to make believe that a company can't have a strong regional identity AND be succesful internationally. It can, and I've already given you some examples.

[NickNick]

Oh I agree that some 'local' brand names work well internationally, but I also think that others don't. HSBC and BMW work better that their full names, in my opinion. Cheddar works very well (and yes I know it's cheddar and not Cheddar, but still)

One thing that people need to take into consideration on the international stage is how a name is pronounced around the world, and I would hazard a guess that Avivia works better than "Commercial Union General Accident Norwich Union (CGNU)" which is what it replaced.

[Doggy Styles]

The Manchester United brand works wordwide.

Although it is usually abbreviated to Man Yu, probably for the chinese market.

[Metal Mickey]

Anyone know why The Norwich Union has been renamed Aviva ? ......

Is it because the holding company have decided to dump the 200 year old 'Norwich Union' title as they think that anything that is British or sounds British is a 'risky' asset /gamble and is therefore a 'bad' bet ?????

or is it just to do with economies (savings) made on re-branding under one single name ?

Probably some smart branding company that reckons it will have more "international appeal"... the Norwich Union brand is "holding them back" from becomming even bigger....

I worked in one of the group companies for a while and the reason for the rebranding is exactly that.

Although the Norwich Union brand is old, tried and trusted in England, noone will have heard of it in other parts of the world so it is not viewed as helpful towards their mission to "keep up with the 'pru", sorry, expand globally.

The cynic in me might be sceptical of these attempts by Senior Management to grow the business once they have saturated their home market, but it means ongoing work for web developers so it is not all bad.