The UPS Store agency of record, Doner, Detroit, and UPS agency of record, Ogilvy & Mather, Chicago, teamed up on a new integrated campaign promoting The UPS Store to small business owners.
Ogilvy & Mather created the television spot for the campaign, entitled “Mailbox Confessions,” while Doner handled the rest of the work. “Mailbox Confessions” will launch September 15th and includes television, online, print and radio components. The campaign’s launch next month will arrive with the brand’s image in trouble following recent revelations of data breaches at 51 of its stores. The broadcast spot, also entitled “Mailbox Confessions,” will run during prime-time programming on ABC, “Thursday Night Football” on CBS, “Notre Dame Football” on NBC, as well as cable programs.
In the 30-second spot, a group of small business owners talk up The UPS Store’s importance to their businesses in confessions to a UPS Store franchise owner, while the camera frames them behind their mailboxes. “I confess, I don’t know what I’d do without you,” says one of the business owners at the conclusion of the spot.” The approach comes across as a bit monotonous, as viewers are presented with basically the same image (business owner behind a mailbox) for the entire 30 seconds, which makes for a pretty unmemorable ad that’s easy to tune out — but The UPS Store is hoping that authenticity will make up for the lack of memorability.
“This is the next evolution of our campaign. It is the first time in some time we have had real customers and real franchisees in our advertising,” Michelle Van Slyke, VP-marketing and small business solutions for The UPS Store, explained to AdAge. “In today’s marketplace, you truly do have to be authentic. Our small-business franchise owners are locally owned and operated and are part of the community.”