Which of these is the odd one out: Ringo Starr, Elle Macpherson, Alice Cooper, Bruce Willis, Norwich Union and a Snickers bar?

The answer: all except Norwich Union have changed their name. The insurer does not do so until June, when, after 200 years, it will become Aviva.

The switch will bring the UK company into line with the rest of the insurance group's worldwide brands. Also adopting the Aviva moniker will be Hibernian insurance in the Republic of Ireland, Commercial Union Polska in Poland and Eagle Insurance in Sri Lanka.

Amanda Mackenzie, Aviva's group marketing director, is no stranger to brand changes, she worked at BT when it changed its logo from a piper to a globe and helped Mars when it changed Marathon to Snickers and Opal Fruits to Starburst. The name-change logic is straightforward: “We have 27 markets around the world and thought: Wouldn't it be good and sensible to have the same name around the world.”

The timing - in the midst of a global recession - might be thought by some to be a little strange. “We have got to be open-minded enough to say: Well, maybe we will keep a little bit of the comfort blanket of the old brand for a little bit longer, if people need it,'” she said. For this reason the Irish and Polish name changes are to be a gradual process, Hibernian, for example, changing to Hibernian Aviva and then to Aviva Hibernian before the Hibernian is lost in 2010.

In Britain customers have said that they are happy about a name change, but a different logo would be unthinkable. Research has shown that 46 per cent of the public recognise the yellow-wedged emblem based on Norwich Cathedral.

Name changes can, of course, go horribly wrong. When the Post Office became Consignia, no one knew what it meant, including John Roberts, chief executive at that time. The Communication Workers Union campaigned for the name to be dropped - and so it was, when Allan Leighton took over and renamed it Royal Mail.

To avoid any internal revolt this time, Norwich Union is staging a huge internal campaign, which includes videos, literature and internet activity, all emphasising the global nature of the Aviva group and its mission to be the most customer-focused insurance company. An Aviva day is being planned for staff in the UK at the beginning of June to celebrate the name change. All of which will run in tandem with a public advertising campaign, beginning on Boxing Day, with the strapline: “A change of name is not just a change of name, it is a chance to show the world what you've always wanted to be.” The internal brand promise is: “No one recognises you like Aviva.” Or, put another way: “[What we stand for is] the empathy we feel for the customer, which is lacking from financial services at the moment, combined with the expertise you expect from a company that does insurance, pensions and savings.”

Ms Mackenzie is striving to make this more than vague management speak. For example, she has a customer blog on the company intranet with details of customer stories, a cabinet in the London offices showcasing some of the best stories and is making sure that employees are told about global best practice and achievements. “When they [employees] sit down with their family at Christmas, we want them to be able to explain what is going on in the company they work for and bring it all to life.”

“[Employees] should feel like we are a worldwide company which has been born out of the UK and they can take pride in that. The world feels smaller and they should understand that makes us stronger.”

All of which sounds like a lot to expect of a simple name change. When it goes to plan, nobody notices, but if it goes wrong, everyone loves to scoff. Think Consignia, again, or Monday, PricewaterhouseCoopers' disastrous foray into rebranding.

But Norwich Union does have some aces up its sleeve - namely Eleanor Gow, Richard Starkey Jr, Vincent Furnier and Walter Willis, all of whom will star in the television and internet advertising campaign that begins the day after tomorrow. Changing names worked for Elle, Ringo, Alice and Bruce; Norwich Union hopes the switch will give it similar success.

Address labels

The Post Office changed its name to Consignia in March 2001. The public hated it, the workers hated it and nobody had any idea what it meant. It was dropped in June 2002, to be replaced by Royal Mail

PricewaterhouseCoopers’ consulting unit was established as a separate company and named Monday in May 2002 in a rebranding exercise costing $110 million. In the October it was sold to IBM and the name was dropped

Corus was formed on October 6, 1999, through the merger of British Steel and Koninklijke Hoogovens. In 2007 it became a subsidiary of Tata Steel but retained its name

Andersen Consulting was renamed Accenture when it split from its parent company in 2001. Derived from “accent on the future”, it was submitted by a Danish employee in an internal competition

Google started life as BackRub before changing in 1997 to a play on googol, a mathematical term for the numeral 1 followed by 100 zeros, reflecting its creators’ mission to organise a seemingly infinite amount of information on the internet

Times Recommends

• Lies and cover-up at MG Rover exposed by report
• High oil prices push manufacturing costs up
• Primark founder steps down as chief executive