With the announcement that the Norwich Union name will be replaced by Aviva, we are seeing the final step of the strategic brand journey that we set in motion back in 2002 with the company that was then known as CGNU, following the mergers of Norwich Union, General Accident and Commercial Union. Although strong in the UK, the group had sizable revenues, and even greater ambition, globally. With an international business objective of organic growth, our task was twofold. The first was to assess and develop the brand strategy that would support, enable and deliver the business ambition. Secondly we had to define the best way to manage the transition from the current status to the future brand destination, across all markets. Working closely with the Executive Boards, and harnessing consumer and customer perspectives from over 20 markets, we crystallised a ‘One Company, One Brand’ strategy. From there the next step was to work out what that brand should be and what values it should be based on. The outcome of this phase of work was the development of the new global brand Aviva. With the ‘destination’ defined, the Transition Strategy came next. The key principle was to balance the conservation of any existing equity in ‘local brands’ with the bigger picture of growing a single powerful global brand. This was not a ‘one size fits all’ approach; so whilst Aviva quickly became the key brand where no strong local brand existed, the risk of doing the same immediately with something as strong as the Norwich Union in the UK was too great. So the journey started at different times in different places. And now it has come to the final stage, with a carefully managed transition over the next two years, designed to transfer the positive brand values of NU into the new brand of Aviva. The same principle as ‘Marathon’ into ‘Snickers’, but rather more complex. So, whilst we may feel some twinge of regret at the passing of a great British name, we should also rejoice in the development of a new British-based brand that straddles the globe.
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