World Access is changing its name. Sort of.

Beginning tomorrow, the Henrico County-based insurance company will be known as Mondial Assistance. Mondial means "worldwide" in French.

World Access did not choose the name at random but is instead taking on the name of its French bosses.

World Access has been the North American unit of the French travel insurance company Mondial Assistance since 2000. The parent company operates in 29 countries and is part of Germany's Allianz AG.

World Access specializes in travel insurance, and offers international medical and travel assistance. It also provides entertainment insurance.

Jon Ansell, its president and chief executive, said the company is changing its name because of the international nature of the work it does. Many of the companies it does business with around the world know the name Mondial but not World Access, he said.

"We are finding ourselves dealing with large, multinational corporations throughout the world" who don't know the World Access name, he said.

But Ansell said the biggest obstacle in changing its name to Mondial is letting people in the Richmond area know it's the same company.

World Access will launch a marketing campaign this week to coincide with the change explaining its new name.

For the past year, the company has been holding workshops and training sessions to prepare employees on the change.

David Urban, a professor of marketing at Virginia Commonwealth University, said changing names can be complicated for a company.

"The biggest challenge come from having to educate consumers about the new name; having to create a strong association between the positive attributes of the company and the new name; and building internal allegiance to the new name among employees and external brand equity among current and potential customers," he said.

In addition to a new name, the company is changing its logo and new Web site address.

World Access would not say how much it is spending on the name change.

The company has 709 full-time equivalent employees in the area.
Contact Louis Llovio at (804) 649-6348 or LLLovio@timesdispatch.com.