UK's Post Office has become Consignia, which is the parent of three familiar brands, Royal Mail, Parcel Force, and Post Office branches, as postal service adapts to new communications market

A post-modern dispatch company Royal Mail's roots are apparent in its very name. In 1635, King Charles I
opened up the elite royal postal system to the public. Mail was carried
between posting stages by horses and messengers and prices ranged from 2d
(0.8p) to 4d (1.7p) for distances ranging up to 140 miles. People picked up
their post from commercial receiving houses situated along the main coach
route. The establishment of the General Post Office in 1660 brought further changes
to the rapidly developing system. Charles II, recently re-established after
the Civil War, continued his father's work by appointing Colonel Henry Bishop
of Henfield, Sussex, as the new Postmaster General. Bishop made a number of
changes to the efficiency of the mail service, including the introduction of a
date stamp on mail to show when a letter was posted. Throughout the 18th century, the service was honed with the launch of the Mail
Coach service in 1784 and better security of mail. An investigation department
was founded in 1793 and later, crime-cutting watching galleries were created
to monitor the sorting rooms. The world's first adhesive stamp for use on mail was created in 1840. Known as
the Penny Black, each stamp was different, printed by Perkins, Bacon & Perch
with individual corner letters as a mark of security. In only 1841, the Penny
Red replaced it. The posting process was, however, still inconvenient for
people who had to travel long distances to receiving houses and post offices.
Post Office employee and novelist Anthony Trollope brought further innovation
by introducing roadside posting boxes to England in 1853, following trials in
Jersey and Guernsey. In 1897, in honour of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, the government
introduced free postal delivery for every UK household. This transformed the
postal service and continues to this day. A public airmail service was also
introduced in the first half of the 20th century. By 1968, the volume of mail
being handled was so great that a two-tier, first and second class stamp
system was created to differentiate mail according to its urgency. Image and brand Now The Post Office has been renamed Consignia, under which there are three
familiar brands: Royal Mail, Parcel Force, and Post Office branches. The modern Royal Mail cruciform logo was designed by Sampson Tyrell in 1989.
It aimed to maintain the heritage of the brand, and create a corporate
identity that was obviously separate from The Post Office. Sampson Tyrell
produced three versions of the design: an English one using St. Edward's
crown, a Scottish type using St. James' crown, and a Welsh variety using St.
Edward's crown, featuring the Welsh translation of Royal Mail: Post Brenhinol. The versions of the logo now in use are digital artwork files produced by
Landor Associates as part of an identity review in 1993. This review updated
certain parts of Royal Mail's identity, but left the cruciform logo as it was. Royal Mail uniforms have altered over time. Uniforms in the past were formal,
with traditional dark blue fabric and red piping. The modern Royal Mail
uniform has evolved in line with the increasing variety services offered by
the company. Victoria Kubie, brand strategy development manager for Royal
Mail, says: "In the past the uniform was very official in style, but we have
moved the designs towards a uniform that is more comfortable for the wearer,
and yet which is still easily recognisable." Kubie comments: "We need to maintain a fresh and relevant image, so we're
currently engaged in a review of all aspects of our visual identity." But following the recent rebrand of The Post Office to Consignia, Royal Mail
has no plans to rebrand itself. "There will be no change to Royal Mail and
customers will continue to see exactly the same familiar uniforms, red vans
and post boxes as they do now," says Kubie. Advertisements Royal Mail has run a number of high-profile advertising campaigns. In fact,
the organisation was advertising for most of the last century. One example is
a 1937 short film for the cinema called Trade Tattoo. This advertisement was
produced by Jon Grierson for the General Post Office Film Unit and sought to
establish The Post Office brand as reliable and trustworthy. Another, made in
1990 — Love Letters from agency D'Arcy — used the slogan "We know all our
customers by name." One recent campaign by Bates UK with the strapline "I saw this and thought of
you" emphasised the personal qualities of a letter. This campaign still
appears on posters, but new television adverts (again by Bates UK) use the
concept "Nothing gets through like a letter". This is presumably to highlight
the permanence of letters compared with electronic communication. Kubie comments: "Consumer advertising focuses on the emotional power of the
mail versus other forms of communication, and how mail can help you build your
personal relationships. In a recent tracking survey with Hall and Partners we
had 77% awareness of Royal Mail advertising." Service Royal Mail offers hundreds of services to both businesses and consumers, and
80 million letters, cards and packages are handled every day in the UK. This
is a massive increase on 10 years ago, when the figure was 45 million. Royal
Mail also has the most advanced sorting system in the world; it has invested
more than 200m (pounds sterling) in cutting the processing time for a letter
from 90 minutes to two minutes. It asserts that a new international mail
centre near Heathrow, costing 150m (pounds sterling), will be the most
technologically advanced international mail centre anywhere. Competition The opening of The Post Office to competition has seen Royal Mail exposed to
the first threat of rivalry. Recent media rumours have suggested that
Consignia may set up a low-cost postal service in areas where industrial
action is rife, working along the lines of British Airways and its former
sister low-cost airline Go. Kubie dismisses this idea for the present: "We
have no plans to put forward any requests to Postcomm for additional
licences." The widespread use of electronic mail must also be causing Royal Mail some
anxiety. The organisation has introduced several new measures to keep people
interested in "snail mail", including the introduction of personalised
postcodes that allow people to move house and receive their personal mail at
any address. This initiative would lessen the need for redirection of mail and
possibly bring in the same type of revenue as personalised number-plates. Will an age-old organisation like Royal Mail be able to adapt to a new
communications age? The introduction of secure electronic mail services like
ViaCode indicates that the company is branching into other communications
forms. However, to the consumer, the Royal Mail identity remains all about notepaper
and Postman Pat, and it may be difficult to give the brand new properties. Kubie is confident that the brand will remain important to both businesses and
consumers. She says: "Mail is valuable because it helps to build relationships
in a very personal and direct way. The fact that someone has taken time to
compose a letter or select a card is highly personal whether it comes from a
business contact or friend or family."