Norwich Union's brand migration to Aviva has drawn me out of a six month slumber and back to the blog. (Can't really explain why I've been away for so long - just been kind of busy!)
The question posed on their outrageously expensive looking ads is 'Would I have been as successful if I'd stuck to my original name?' A simple enough idea but one that doesn't really lend itself to much interrogation - and don't even start me on the poster campaign which seems to have wandered well off course. In the TV ads, Ringo Starr, Bruce Willis, Elle McPherson and Alice Cooper pose the question alongside some fancy digital film wizardry but with the exception of old Alice (who was once Vincent Furnier and clearly needed a girl's name to make himself even vaguely interesting) the idea quickly wears a bit thin. Though the jury's still divided on the simple brilliance (or otherwise) of Ringo's drumming, I reckon his rebranding had little to do with how he fared in his spell behind the drums of the world's most successful pop group, or for that matter in the subsequent career that stint carved out for him. George Harrison, John Lennon and Paul McCartney are all pretty average names when you think about it and with the exception of Paul, which is actually McCartney's middle name, they're all the names they were issued at the outset and don't appear to have been any hindrance.
As for Walter Willis - can you imagine Walt instead of Bruce? I can. Eleanor (née Gow) McPherson picked up the McPherson from her stepdad at the age of 14 so other than a bit of fashion-conscious fiddling with her first name, it's hardly a major change and it certainly isn't too hard to imagine that Eleanor Gow complete with that unforgettable body wouldn't have been just as successful.
While a brand is undoubtedly an important communications shorthand for any company or individual, it draws all its power from the talent that backs it up. If Norwich Union sounds a little bit too parochial for a financial services giant with global ambitions then undoubtedly a cutesy pan-European palindrome like Aviva gives it a name that is meaningless enough to take it pretty much anywhere without offending anyone too much. Having said that, Aviva better be bursting with talent and brilliant ideas because they'll have to breathe meaning into the new name long after the ad budget's been blown and the printers have had a field day reprinting all the corporate literature. The name's not the thing it's what's behind it that matters and those ambitious insurance men, having reinvented themselves for the 21st Century are going to have to win over customers old and new with the quality of their products and services. I'm not sure Ringo, Bruce, Elle and Alice will be much help with that.
Its horrendous. I agree with the sentiment of many of the comments on YouTube "-“just what you need at the time of a credit crunch- a suggestion that you have paid some starts a lot of money to tell us about your costly name changing exercise-great timing” Its not the time to be doing this kind of wasteful activity. The age of extravagance has gone. Bring on the age of the hangover.
The timing is off and the worlds of entertainment and financial services are at either end of the business spectrum. There are a number of reasons why stage names might be useful to actors and singers but to straight-laced business groups? I think not.
Alan Munro
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