The Post Office, one of the country's more enduring institutions, has given way to the pressures of an ever changing corporate world. It yesterday announced plans to change its name to Consignia from the end of March. Post Office, it explained, no longer adequately described what it did. John Roberts, its chief executive, was quick to point out that as far as the general public was concerned there would be little visible change.
Its main brand names and logos will remain the same. The postman delivering letters to the door will still work for the Royal Mail, parcels will be distributed by Parcelforce Worldwide in its distinctive vans and local post offices will still display the familiar logo.
The change immediately came under fire from the Post Office's own workers, however. The Communication Workers Union pledged to campaign against the decision, complaining that it was "dumping" 350 years of tradition. Deputy general secretary John Keggie believed the exercise was "rushed and ill-conceived". He said: "We should be trading on the British Post Office's worldwide reputation."
The driving force behind the name change has been the Post Office's determination to become a leading player in the international distribution and logistics business. The new name is based on to consign: to entrust to the care of.
The Post Office is a generic term which cannot be legally protected and this was hindering its international expansion plans, the organisation said. Overseas people inevitably referred to the organisation as the British Post Office to distinguish it from its local rivals.
"We did not think British Post Office was as strong as Consignia," said Neville Bain, the Post Office chairman. "It would be abbreviated to BPO and the branding consultants said that a word which is recognisable and describes what you do is better than some conglomerate of initials."
The Post Office worked with consultants, Dragon, and ran focus groups to judge reactions to various names. The words "British" and "Royal" got a poor reception. Other names were already registered or meant something unacceptable in other languages.
The Post Office, which faces the rapid erosion of its traditional letter monopoly in Britain, has spent £500m during the past two years buying foreign logistics and parcel companies, largely in mainland Europe.
Mr Roberts said the Post Office would present itself as Consignia overseas and to the big corporate customers who account for the bulk of its business. It would also consider using Consignia as a brand name if it moved into new markets.
Post Office executives stressed that the business was changing rapidly. International operations account for about £1.2bn of its £7.5bn turnover and would account for more in the years ahead.
It is also turning to new activities such as call centres, warehousing, logistics and collection points for goods ordered over the internet.
The change is timed to coincide with the change in the Post Office's status to a government-owned public limited company on March 26. The status gives it greater commercial freedom. Mr Roberts said the organisation was spending £1.5m in connection with the switch to plc status, and that the name change would add a further £500,000.
By comparison Andersen Consulting is spending £100m on promoting its name change to Accenture. "It's the difference between changing a corporate name and changing a whole brand identity," a Post Office executive said.
