When Kevin Warren took on the role of UPS CMO in 2018, he faced a head-scratcher of a problem. The company was losing market share with small- and medium-sized businesses despite their dependence on a shipper like UPS. Warren’s team surveyed customers, including a persona test, and discovered that customers pegged UPS as an older, stodgy man with a comb-over drinking scotch.
Warren knew his problem, and he had his work cut out for him. After all, the survey showed traits most brands would dream to have: reliability, integrity, responsiveness. “When you get the voice of the customer, when you’re trying to drive change, it’s amazing how impactful that is,” Warren said.
Five years later, Warren has transformed UPS, helping it shed its outdated image and drive its 2022 revenue to $100.3 billion, a 40% increase since his arrival. With the help of a new creative partner—The Martin Agency—Warren’s team launched the “Be Unstoppable” platform, to show business owners that UPS could be counted on.
“[SMBs] have got the product portfolio, the knowledge and the grit. What they needed were some resources,” Warren said. “‘The Unstoppable’ campaign is, if you do business with UPS, we’re going to help you be unstoppable, which really ties into that entrepreneurial spirit, that underdog spirit, that David taking on Goliath.”
At the core of UPS’ marketing strategy is improving its standing among women-owned and diverse-owned businesses.
When you get the voice of the customer, when you’re trying to drive change, it’s amazing how impactful that is.
Kevin Warren
Internally, the team cooked up business webinars with celebrities like Serena Williams, Mariano Rivera, Eva Longoria and Tan France to reach different groups of business owners—which led to deeper engagement and better leads. Externally, UPS made splashes to integrate itself into culture through fashion, music and festivals.
In 2021, UPS partnered with J Balvin for the song “Juntos Imparables,” which translates to “Unstoppable Together” from Spanish. UPS integrated that song into a TikTok challenge that created a hub of Latinx-owned businesses for consumers to patronize. The same year, UPS altered hallowed ground, redesigning the iconic brown boxes to celebrate Black History Month.
Last year, the company supported Black-owned businesses with a fashion line that dropped at New York Fashion Week.
“We dropped streetwear merch that was fire,” Warren said. All proceeds from the gear went straight to grants for Black-owned businesses.
“We started diversifying our portfolio and showing up in different places and meeting these customers where they were,” Warren said. “And it wasn’t just about selling to them. It was also about us giving them grants.”
Value Add
Since 2018, the year Warren moved into his current role, the UPS brand value—the present value of earnings specifically related to the brand—has grown 61% to $35.4 billion, according to Brand Finance.
Big impact on small businesses
UPS also cemented its place in festival culture by activating at ComplexCon, where it helped festivalgoers conveniently ship all their new gear home. Add all this up, and UPS is reaffirming its connections with small- and medium-sized business owners.
“Whether it’s fashion, music or movies, showing up in different places and people are saying, ‘I thought I knew all I needed to know about UPS; maybe I need to reassess and evaluate them,'” Warren said. “It’s like we’re giving them gold, so they won’t be small forever. And they will continue to grow, and you know who they’ll look for as far as their shipping partner.”
To get to this point, Warren said marketers need to be willing to tackle the uncomfortable. “We’ve done stuff in the same way for 115 years, and having the courage to be the truth-teller and lead the understanding of that over time, folks will get on board. That’s the responsibility and the opportunity that us marketers have.”
This story is part of Adweek’s Brand Genius 2023 honors, recognizing the top marketers who have delivered long-term success for some of the world’s leading brands.
This story first appeared in the July 2023 issue of Adweek magazine. Click here to subscribe.
