It was with a growing sense of incredulity that I explored the NU/Aviva name changing advertisement, animation and blog that is featured prominently on the Insurance Times site. Oh My God!

Obviously it’s barking, but in a funny sort of a way I do quite like both the conceit of it, as well as the format. It was a great idea getting a Harry Hill lookalike to do the presentation as well.

The excruciating thing about it is that it will inevitably prompt a parade of insurance company executives to burn their ties and their marketing budgets on their very own groovy ‘vids’. Alas, they are unlikely to pull it off quite as well.

The premise of their TV campaign seems to be that Bruce Willis, Elle McPherson, Alice Cooper etc all changed their names from something awkward and prosaic to something with a little more sparkle... and thus progressed in life. Likewise, I suppose, Paul Gadd became Gary Glitter.

Historically too, I think they may have a point. Does Adolf Schicklgruber have quite the same ring to it as Hitler? It certainly does not. Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili is nearly unpronounceable, whereas Stalin rolls very easily off the tongue indeed. Also a brilliant bit of rebranding.

Whilst this whole campaign is likely to become the butt of considerable humour, I hope that this was part of the calculation, as it will only serve to spread the message further.