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30/04/2008, 9:20 PM runboy Joined on 15/09/2003 Posts 324 NU > AVIVA and negative comments What are peoples thoughts on the comments from Ian Gibson MP regarding the Norwich Union name change? I thought he was a bit too negative - afterall NU went to Sheffield many years ago, York was due to a merger with CGU which was already based up there and more recently offshore to India etc. There have been plenty of opportunities to quit Norwich in the past. Marsh is still in Norwich. RBS took over Virgin and I didn't see much negative press about them shutting up and going to Edinburgh. Does NU have a bad image locally? Has the closing of Pinebanks left a raw nerve?    Report

01/05/2008, 8:43 AM Castanea Joined on 25/04/2008 Posts 109 Re: NU > AVIVA and negative comments This has been rumbling on for over 7 years, and frankly I am surprised it has taken this long to change the name. Locally it will never be Aviva and will probably remain Norwich Union for the next 30 years. But then there was outcry when they changed the cathedral logo into the blue, yellow and green colours and that all died down soon enough. Mind you, I thought the tongue in cheek logo that got sent round the office when they announced the New Dehli office was quite fetching and apt. They didn't think so and threatened dismissal to anyone that passed it on.    Report

01/05/2008, 9:03 AM Jill Joined on 15/08/2005 Norfolk Posts 1,821 Re: NU > AVIVA and negative comments I remember the logo change some years ago when I was working at Norwich Union We were all called to a meeting where it was unveiled to a video clip and fanfare There was an embarassed silence and a few giggles from us all as it was greeted as something schoolchildren could have envisaged, only much cheaper and with less hyperbole The then Chairman was later heard to say he didnt think much of it either, but of course only in private. The head of the marketing department soon moved on to other pastures Perhaps this just might be the case again    Report

01/05/2008, 11:32 AM Glass Joined on 14/05/2007 Posts 392 Re: NU > AVIVA and negative comments  Castanea wrote: Mind you, I thought the tongue in cheek logo that got sent round the office when they announced the New Dehli office was quite fetching and apt. They didn't think so and threatened dismissal to anyone that passed it on. Any chance of a copy? Glass    Report

01/05/2008, 12:19 PM Richard Joined on 08/01/2004 Posts 143 Re: NU > AVIVA and negative comments Maybe its similar to the logo that the goverment spent £14,000 on for the treasury dept some time ago. Was quickly got rid of after the unveiling as everyone  burst out laughing. It was simply    OGC joined together, which is ok  until it is turned upright.                                                                                                                    Live your Dream Ask me how?    Report

01/05/2008, 3:07 PM C C Joined on 21/08/2003 Posts 1,251 Re: NU > AVIVA and negative comments Frankly I don’t care what AVIVA call themselves. It’s a commercial decision that they needed to make. The BBC however spening £500,000 renaming ‘News24’ to ‘ BBC News’ and adding some pulsating rings around the familiar globe to the opening titles of news programs in an utter waste of public money.      Report

02/05/2008, 12:53 AM ROBERT Joined on 16/08/2003 NR Gt. Yarmouth Posts 3,444 Re: NU > AVIVA and negative comments Whatever way you look at it, Norwich Union is a brand name, costing millions to build over a long time. Many companies would give their eye teeth to have such a well known brand name, some as it seems couldn`t give a toss......... Thats progress for you........by the way who the hell are Aviva anyway....?     Report

02/05/2008, 10:21 AM keith gerrard Joined on 16/04/2004 Posts 9,901 Re: NU > AVIVA and negative comments Come on people, you all know why Norwich Union wants to change its name. Its logo and name have become descriptive of  business practice and values of little use to their continued development. Obvious really. Dream on keithgerrard@gerrard24.freeserve.co.uk    Report

02/05/2008, 2:15 PM john smith Joined on 18/10/2004 Posts 25 Re: NU > AVIVA and negative comments  Richard wrote: Maybe its similar to the logo that the goverment spent £14,000 on for the treasury dept some time ago. Was quickly got rid of after the unveiling as everyone  burst out laughing. It was simply    OGC joined together, which is ok  until it is turned upright. Thant wasn't so long back, it was only on The Register last week or so. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/22/ogc_logo/ ! Anyway, for a local connection, check out the comments page to the article - there is a very critical mention of the culture at the OGC offices in Norwich there. Can anyone back that up?                                                                                                                         Report

03/05/2008, 4:49 AM Rupert Joined on 19/11/2007 Posts 414 Re: NU > AVIVA and negative comments LMAO! A few years ago (when I was living in Norfolk) I had a vehicle recovery policy with NU.  I picked up a flint in my back tyre (during the beet campaign) managed to stop the bike without further damage and called Norwich Union: Rupert: "I've got a puncture.  I've run over a flint." NU Man: "Oh, that's easy, we can fix that in no time." (He's no idiot! - He's seen a lighter and he knows exactly what a flint is) Rupert: "Really? It's not a flint out of a yuppy lighter, this one's a bit like a prehistoric arrowhead and I can put my thumb in the hole in the tyre.  Are you sure you can fix it 'just like that'? NU man: "Err ... no.  Where are you?" Rupert: "Rocklands." NU Man: "Where's that?" Rupert: "Between Watton and Attleborough." NU Man: "Where are they?" Rupert: "Where are you? - You're Norwich Union, aren't you? Don't you know where places are in Norfolk?" NU Man: "No, I don't ... where's Norfolk? - I'm in Brummigum." (Or somewhere like that ... I don't work for Birmingham Small Arms, so I don't need to know.) Eventually, I managed to make this 'Norwich Union' man understand that I was on the  B1077, a couple of miles outside Attleborough. "Don't worry, Sir - We have a rescue vehicle on the way to recover you and you motorcycle." 2½ hours later, the recovery vehicle arrived.  "Where have you been? " Asked I.  "Sorry it's taken so long" said he "When they called me I was on the A14 in Northamptonshire." I suppose 'Northamptonshire' is almost the same as 'Norfolk.' You're worried that changing the name from NU might cost them sales? I doubt it.  Changing the name is (arguably) 'truth in advertising.'    I had A VIVA once.  Worst car I ever owned. - The boot rusted out.  I wouldn't buy another - nor would I buy anything from a company which named itself after a Viva.     Rupert    Report

03/05/2008, 9:49 AM monkeytrousers Joined on 14/03/2007 Posts 493 Re: NU > AVIVA and negative comments The company name, Aviva, is a Hebrew name meaning Spring or Renewal (as in Tel Aviv). It is pronounced Ah-Vee-Vah. In other words, another one of them Zionist plots that feature so frequently in these dispatches.    Report

04/05/2008, 11:13 PM runboy Joined on 15/09/2003 Posts 324 Re: NU > AVIVA and negative comments Rupert, that was because NU went into partnership, then bought, RAC, whoses call centre is in Birmingham. You should try telephoning their car insurance division now - through to India who can only deal with scripted answers - any slight deviation and they put you on hold, then cut you off. I did try to complain about this to NU but their complaints site wasn't working. Stroke of genious on their part!    Report

05/05/2008, 12:10 PM Castanea Joined on 25/04/2008 Posts 109 Re: NU > AVIVA and negative comments  runboy wrote: Rupert, that was because NU went into partnership, then bought, RAC, whoses call centre is in Birmingham. You should try telephoning their car insurance division now - through to India who can only deal with scripted answers - any slight deviation and they put you on hold, then cut you off. I did try to complain about this to NU but their complaints site wasn't working. Stroke of genious on their part! When I worked for NU, we sometimes had need to call our collegues in Colegate (we were Rose Lane) and would dial an internal number, only to find ourselves speaking to someone in India. We started to dial 01603 numbers in case there was a blip and still got India!      Report

06/05/2008, 2:53 PM Alan Hardesty Joined on 15/05/2005 Norwich Posts 1,578 Re: NU > AVIVA and negative comments The logo, as requested.   I never stole your flag, I just rescued it from the gutter where you left it. For the truth go to www.bnp.org.uk just a link, like Denise has.    Report

06/05/2008, 6:03 PM Snuggles Joined on 08/04/2007 Posts 526 Re: NU > AVIVA and negative comments Few people pay attention to the statements of Ian Gibson - he's little more than a rent-a-quote these days. He bacame increasingly humiliated, embittered and marginalised as his career failed to leave the launch pad whilst Charles Clarke's flourished and bloomed. A disappointed man.   Islam is like whisky. Some drink it neat.    Report

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