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By David E. West
The Postal Service is
changing to meet cus-
tomers' needs. Postal employees know that, but do the customers?
To overcome customers' misconceptions and reinforce the fact that it is an organization that lives up to its slogan "We Deliver," the Postal Service launched a television advertising campaign this month designed to position it in the marketplace as a brand name.
"This campaign will help differentiate the Postal Service from competitors," says Rod DeVar, former manager, Advertising and Promotions who mapped out the campaign direction. "Remember during the recent United Parcel Service strike when many people, even members of the media, confused USPS with UPS? We can minimize the confusion by having a strong brand image that people instantly recognize.
"It also will link our products and services to those that customers want and need. And we hope it will reassure customers of the quality and superior value of our products."
Developed by New York ad agency Young & Rubicam, the campaign features four 30-second ads based on the theme, "If I ran the post office" and stars people who represent many of the diverse customers USPS serves.
The commercials focus on the postal infrastructure and operations and address some of the negative service perceptions that customers have.
"What we want viewers to come away with is the clear notion that the Postal Service is not a rigid bureaucracy, that it is definitely changing to meet their changing needs," DeVar adds.
If the sneak previews consumers and employees have received are any indication, that message will come through loud and clear.
"The consumers who saw the test versions were pleasantly surprised to learn about many of the products and services we offer," DeVar says. "Businesspeople felt the campaign demonstrated that the Postal Service is becoming more businesslike in response to the competition, and employees who saw the commercials liked the idea that we are telling the general public about the many changes we are making to our products and services."
The campaign will be launched nationally at the end of this month on all the major and cable networks to coincide with the new fall season and high-profile sports programming. In addition to the four brand promotion commercials, a fifth commercial will support Global Priority Mail and will be launched on cable networks.
The corporate branding campaign is the first for the Postal Service since the "We Deliver For You" campaign.
"We believe this campaign will build awareness of Postal Service changes that show a new orientation toward customers and more efficient and competitive operations," DeVar says.
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