Fast, loose, Fedex
The US company distracts from its USP with new and completely exaggerated stories
The US company distracts from its USP with new and completely over-the-top storiesBy Thérèse Balduzzi Speed and slapstick humor have long been the hallmarks of Fedex advertising in America. In the latest campaign from BBDO, New York, fast-paced dialog takes center stage. Each of the five commercials revolves around a different Fedex service.
Reliability is part of Fedex's brand image. With its new campaign, the Memphis, Tennessee-based company emphasizes this quality and wants to extend the trust to its lesser-known services. Each spot focuses on one of these. One is about the online service, which can be used to handle the entire package handling process. Another is about Fedex mailboxes, which are placed in strategic locations in American cities, in commercial buildings and, more recently, even in post office buildings. Others are about cheaper Fedex ground transportation and the new, longer opening hours of Fedex branches.
The 30-second spots are staged as dialogs in which an office employee who is enthusiastic about Fedex wants to tell a colleague an anecdote in which Fedex plays the saving role. However, his counterpart keeps asking questions about details that distract from the story.
A good look at "Saturday Night Live"
One commercial, for example, is about a woman whose car was stolen by bank robbers just as she was about to drive to the Fedex drop-off point. Thanks to a Fedex mailbox on the other side of the street, the parcel still made it to Fedex without any detours. However, the listener is more interested in how the masked robbers were able to see through the stockings. "You don't get the point" is therefore the recurring phrase in the commercials. As the two always talk past each other, the tagline "Don't worry. There's Fedex for that." The fast, funny dialog is reminiscent of the sketches from "Saturday Night Live".
In another commercial, an actor talks about a birthday party in a shipping department where all employees except one suffered from food poisoning. Thanks to Fedex's online service, however, the person left behind was able to handle the entire load of mail on his own. Again, the listener is only interested in what food led to the poisoning.
In "Hogan's Heroes", a young entrepreneur almost forgets to send a parcel because of a marathon of the TV show of the same name, but manages to get it away in time thanks to the new opening hours of Fedex branches. In "She wore white", the underestimated son-in-law manages to impress his father-in-law by suggesting Fedex basic transportation as a cheap solution. The last one is about bowling bags that suddenly became fashionable and had to be exported to Italy overnight.
The terrorist attacks have really stretched the spot budget
Two of the commercials had to be filmed again after the terrorist attacks on America: The office workers suffering from food poisoning were originally taken to hospital with sirens blaring. In the modified version, they run to the toilet. The bank robbers are no longer chased by police officers, instead they flee in slow motion in a cloud of banknotes. The copywriter and AD for the commercials was freelancer Ernest Lupinacci. The film was directed by Joe Pytka.
Reliability is part of Fedex's brand image. With its new campaign, the Memphis, Tennessee-based company emphasizes this quality and wants to extend the trust to its lesser-known services. Each spot focuses on one of these. One is about the online service, which can be used to handle the entire package handling process. Another is about Fedex mailboxes, which are placed in strategic locations in American cities, in commercial buildings and, more recently, even in post office buildings. Others are about cheaper Fedex ground transportation and the new, longer opening hours of Fedex branches.
The 30-second spots are staged as dialogs in which an office employee who is enthusiastic about Fedex wants to tell a colleague an anecdote in which Fedex plays the saving role. However, his counterpart keeps asking questions about details that distract from the story.
A good look at "Saturday Night Live"
One commercial, for example, is about a woman whose car was stolen by bank robbers just as she was about to drive to the Fedex drop-off point. Thanks to a Fedex mailbox on the other side of the street, the parcel still made it to Fedex without any detours. However, the listener is more interested in how the masked robbers were able to see through the stockings. "You don't get the point" is therefore the recurring phrase in the commercials. As the two always talk past each other, the tagline "Don't worry. There's Fedex for that." The fast, funny dialog is reminiscent of the sketches from "Saturday Night Live".
In another commercial, an actor talks about a birthday party in a shipping department where all employees except one suffered from food poisoning. Thanks to Fedex's online service, however, the person left behind was able to handle the entire load of mail on his own. Again, the listener is only interested in what food led to the poisoning.
In "Hogan's Heroes", a young entrepreneur almost forgets to send a parcel because of a marathon of the TV show of the same name, but manages to get it away in time thanks to the new opening hours of Fedex branches. In "She wore white", the underestimated son-in-law manages to impress his father-in-law by suggesting Fedex basic transportation as a cheap solution. The last one is about bowling bags that suddenly became fashionable and had to be exported to Italy overnight.
The terrorist attacks have really stretched the spot budget
Two of the commercials had to be filmed again after the terrorist attacks on America: The office workers suffering from food poisoning were originally taken to hospital with sirens blaring. In the modified version, they run to the toilet. The bank robbers are no longer chased by police officers, instead they flee in slow motion in a cloud of banknotes. The copywriter and AD for the commercials was freelancer Ernest Lupinacci. The film was directed by Joe Pytka.
