Comments on: Aviva mess rages

By: Aviva Employee

Aviva Employee — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 10:50:18 +0000

As an Aviva employee, I can tell you that Aviva is not a new company, they have not taken over Norwich Union. Aviva IS Norwich Union – just its overseas name – Norwich Union is being changed into the “Global Brand”.

And that the ad campaign cost 9 million pounds. Sucks when I know my payrise will be a pittance and loads of us are being made redundant.

By: Sim-O » Blog Archive » Big it up!

Sim-O » Blog Archive » Big it up! — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 16:59:44 +0000

[...] is the new particapatory process being harnessed when Messagespace, ahem, campaign on behalf ofNorwich Union, HSBC, Toilet Duck and Channel [...]

By: Neil

Neil — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:02:29 +0000

I’m pissed off that I have an endowment with those buggers (I didn’t start it with them, mind you – it was originally with Commercial Union) that I’m guessing I’ll just have to keep paying into for the next dozen years if I ever want to see any return whatsoever.

It’s all about the customer choice, you know.

By: Matt Wardman

Matt Wardman — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:50:36 +0000

But has it got a vanishing-down-the-plughole logo?

By: Laban

Laban — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:03:21 +0000

I opined re the nuclear warheads sell-off :

“there’s a small Cultural Studies paper waiting to be written on names – how the Amalgamated Union of Wire-Drawers, Fettlers and Allied Trades turns in thirty years into something called “Together” or “Unity”, British Insulated Cable and Radio Limited into “Xantippe” or “Xenith”, and the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment via “Defence Research Agency” into “QinetiQ”. The key being that the old, wordy, literate names actually described what the organisation did, the new ones conceal it and are post-literate, logos in letter form”

By: john b

john b — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:02:37 +0000

For that analogy to work, Sim-O would have needed to have signed up with another insurance company in the meantime, which doubled his premiums, refused to pay out any of his claims, stopped answering his calls, made statements in public about how much of a twat he was, and eventually sent out goons to set fire to his house.

By: Richard J

Richard J — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 11:20:27 +0000

To be fair on Accenture, they had to change the name because Arthur Andersen (the accountants) and Andersen Consulting (the go-getting management consultants) had an almighty falling out and a rather messy divorce, hence the forced name change for the latter. The former, of course, came a cropper a few years down the line thanks to Enron.

By: Justin

Justin — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 10:45:51 +0000

Time’s a great healer. Why do you think the Tories are ahead in the polls?

By: Sim-O

Sim-O — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 10:40:16 +0000

Years ago I swore I would never use Norwich Union for any insurance. Ever.

I can’t for the life of me remember why, now.

By: Mike Power

Mike Power — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:18:35 +0000

I love the Ringo Starr bit in the TV ad. He asks whether he would he have been mobbed by teenage girls if his name had been Richard Starkey? Erm, well the answer to that is obviously yes! After all, the other members of the band, you know Paul, John and George, kept their original names didn’t they? And it didn’t do them any harm.