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There is no doubt that life is full of ups and downs, highs and lows, peaks and troughs. Much as I’d love it to be the case that’s probably no less true now we’re Aviva that it was when we were Norwich Union, or as it has been through most of my career. You’re probably already thinking “what a revelation Janice, have you got nothing better to do with your time than think up such pearls of wisdom”…bear with me there is a point to all this.

Now we’ve been gearing up to announce what we see as a huge, up….peak….high…..to the broker market for sometime.

Something we see as reinforcing our commitment to brokers.

Something we don’t think the competition will be even contemplating.

Something we hope will help drive customers through the brokers’ doors, websites and phone lines.

Something that we wouldn’t do if we couldn’t get it right.

Something believe it or not JOHN cautions ME not to oversell.

Then the week before we’re ready to tell you all about our new shiny high, we have a low. To make things worse this low is an own goal, and to make it even worse it hits the press as something that “angers brokers”. Rightly so, brokers have a right to be angry at the way we handled our withdrawal from single trip travel. We made a mistake, we have a very small book, it’s unprofitable and we made the decision sometime ago. And then we executed poorly.  So some brokers may think it’s the thin end of the wedge, an indication of things to come, a low in anyone’s estimation!

Our commitment to brokers is stronger than ever, this was a mistake and one I deeply apologise for.

Having got that off my chest, and thoroughly depressed myself, I’m hoping you still want to hear my good news, my shiny new high, let me tell you anyway see what you think.

In October we will be launching a TV campaign aimed at commercial customers!

We have a script we think works and we’re filming in September!

This campaign will promote Aviva commercial insurance sold only through brokers!

The essence of this campaign will be “go to your broker”

I’ve often discussed the potential with brokers to do something like this, few believed me, they thought it was idle speculation or me living in cloud cuckoo land.  Even when I said we were planning something for when we became Aviva most were extremely sceptical, doubtful that when it came to the crunch we would actually do something. So I’m delighted to exceed a few expectations even at this stage.

Heeding John’s caution not to oversell, I’ll let you make your own minds up how well we execute nearer the time.  I’m sure some will love it, some  might even hate it , hopefully most will remember it, and all will see it as just another small thing of many we do that tells you we care about brokers.

In October, with a bowl of popcorn, a glass of wine and the remote firmly prised from my husbands hand, I know this will be a personal up…. peak…. high for me. Watch this space and I hope you’ll feel just an inkling of the same.