Fed Ex and UPS are competing to ship people’s packages, especially businesses whose higher volume will create a higher profit. As brands, the companies have had to differentiate themselves through their advertising to try to reach the target market.
UPS’s current marketing strategy hinges on the whiteboard sketches of Andy Azula, a creative director from the Martin agency in Richmond, Va. Azula is a laid back man whose freelance sketch
es transform along with the story he is telling the viewer about the benefits of using UPS. To view all the UPS ads click here http://www.pressroom.ups.com/multimedia/av/advertising/0,1405,,00.html. The ads are a departure from other shipping companies’ ads, such as FedEx, whose ads focus on busy business people in need of shipping aid. The UPS ads are soothing in their delivery and they convey a sense of calm. The story telling aspect makes it seem more like information versus just a tagline or scripted ad. The drawings are always developing from one thing to the next so they entice the reader to watch to see how the drawing will end. The ads are looking to appeal to the business person who needs help not more hectic advertising clutter to sort through. The ads are such a departure from other ads that UPS has set themselves into a niche that they will help the customer without being a jarring presence in their day-to-day business routine. The campaign has changed the personality of the UPS brand. The brand was becoming stale and distant from younger business people; however “what can brown do for you” can now be visualized as a benefit to be attained. FedEx
’s “Relax, it’s FedEx" campaign has some humor and unexpected twists. Although still in an office setting the ads show the benefits the company will get from the money they save by using FedEx over UPS. In one spot the workers have purchased massage chairs with the money they saved by reducing their overhead costs. To see the FedEx ads click here http://fedexads.designcdt.com/. The FedEx ads are made to appeal to the business person who needs a break in their day. The FedEx ads are comical and set to show how things at work should be taken lighter. FedEx wants consumers to believe they can relieve some of the burdens at work by taking away some of the grunt work. The different ad campaigns set the two companies apart. UPS and FedEx are the market leaders in shipping in America. Recently, even DHL announced that it was shutting down its operations in America because the competition between FedEx, UPS, and the United States Postal Service is so fierce. However, the new campaigns may be causing a role reversal for UPS and FedEx. FedEx was a newer company that made a fresh impact on the shipping industry when it began and UPS was the stodgy old-faithful. Now, UPS has been able to reposition themselves as a company that is more in tune with the target market. Busy business people do not want a dog and pony show (or in the case of FedEx birds flying out of an overgrown beard). They want something that stands out from the barrage of information overload that they are subjected to and right now UPS has been more successful at that than FedEx.
1 comment:
A key difference between UPS and Fed Ex is what the two companies do. UPS is more of a logistics company helping companies ship things efficiently. You'll see in the Brown campaign, UPS does not think of themselves as a package delivery company. FedEx is still an overnight delivery company, but they too are moving away from that reputation somewhat. Their purchase of Kinko's is an example of that.
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