FedEx is attempting to somersault into the minds of frontline staff of client companies with a television-led campaign featuring an athletic female fastfood drive-in employee who goes out of her way to help her customers. A female character was chosen to play a central role after FedEx found that its key touchpoints with clients are women, according to Jorg Dietzel, regional business development director of BBDO Asia-Pacific, the agency behind the campaign.
The campaign follows 'Ambulance' and 'Pizza', which were produced by AMV BBDO London. Dubbed 'Run Jenny Run', it was written by BBDO /Guerrero Ortega's chairman/ECD David Guerrero and shot in Sydney.
The choice of a female lead is probably a first for any courier commercial, according to Dietzel. "Our customers comprise two groups: those who make the decisions on what courier company to use, and the actual people who implement this decision. The group we are focusing our advertising on is the latter."
FedEx Asia-Pacific vice-president for marketing and communications, Rajesh Subramaniam, said that showing a female courier for the first time "pays tribute to the female frontline and back office staff, and values their contribution to our success".
Gender aside, the campaign theme of "going the extra mile" is the position FedEx has adopted to differentiate itself from the competition. "Many (customers) are looking for generic benefits such as speed, reliability and destination," explained Dietzel. "We found out from the customer side that they like FedEx's 'can do' attitude."
Over at UPS, the familiar stringbow has been dropped from its visual identity, marking the first change in 40 years for the organisation. The new logo features just the shield, which has been a symbol of UPS since 1919, to represent integrity and reliability, not only of the company itself, but also of the people behind it, from drivers to frontline package handlers and warehouse managers.
The new identity - created by FutureBrand - reflects UPS' desire to communicate to the world that while it remains the world's premier package delivery company, UPS has diversified beyond its initial offer. Today, UPS offers freight services by any mode of transportation, international trade management, customs brokerage, consulting and supply chain management. "The old logo no longer represents what we really are today," said Ken Torok, regional UPS president.
The new identity took about two years to develop as UPS positioned the change as an evolution, rather than a departure from its established expertise.
The logo will appear on more than 88,000 vehicles, 257 large aircraft, 1,700 facilities around the world, 70,000 drop-off and retail points, more than one million uniform pieces and about three billion packages.
The ad campaign, developed by McCann-Erickson, also features new taglines: 'Synchronised shipping' and Synchronised commerce'.
