« John Lennon
Why Your Ideas Are All Wet… »

Creative Ads: FedEx

I enjoy advertising — good advertising that is. Yes, perhaps being a copywriter helps, but I really love the way a good billboard or magazine ad connects with the reader instantly.

Hey, we’re bombarded with ads 24/7, and most of them are annoying. Perhaps that is why the engaging ads are so much more, well, engaging. A little bit of creativity goes a long way to helping increase both impact and stickiness.

I am going to dedicate some posts to taking a look at creative ads, and dissect them to see why they work. The point is to gain some insights into the creative process, whether it is through advertising or otherwise.

Today’s ad: a FedEx poster from Germany.

 

fedex.jpg

Came across this ad last week. As far as I can tell, this isn’t actually a truck wrap (though that would be really cool…) but simply a poster. It was produced by BBDO Germany, and apparently won an award, according to the company profile.

Why It Works

The message is direct and to the point: even its competitors rely on FedEx to get their deliveries there on time. There are some nuances worth pointing out here though that really help make this ad work.

First, the FedEx logo is bigger than the UPS logo. This is very important — if the logos on the sides of the UPS trucks were bigger, I think the ad would lose its impact. It is fairly risky putting your competitors directly in an ad anyway. But if you are going to go for it, you need to ensure that the company appears bigger in every way from the competitor.

The other way they have accomplished this is with the use of white. Not only is the banner with the logo at the bottom in white, but the “inside” of the truck, the outside edges, and the tractor truck itself are all white. The UPS brown is there, but it is completely enveloped in white.

Second, this ad does not rely on any advertising copy (though the ad credits do list a copywriter — strange!), so it works in any language. This is important in a place like Germany. As part of the EU, there will be many visitors and even people living there who do not speak German. In fact, adding a tag line (in any language) might lessen the impact anyway. The ad really does speak for itself.

Why This Inspires Me

As a copywriter, I tend to think in terms of words. When it comes to advertising though, especially billboards and posters, brevity is key. You have to find the true “essence” of the product, and find a creative way to let that come out. FedEx delivers packages — which is obvious in this ad.

But this poster takes it one step further by implying that it is so good that it delivers other companies’ packages too. Now every time you pass a FedEx truck, you’ll wonder if there are UPS trucks inside.

What do you think? Does this ad inspire, or is it just cheesy? Let us know below!

~Graham

 

Tags: , , , , , , ,

This entry was posted on Monday, December 8th, 2008 at 10:58 am and is filed under Creative Ads. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “ Creative Ads: FedEx ”

Kelly (31 comments.) says:
December 9th, 2008 at 7:44 am

Graham,

I love this ad, and you hit lots of great points. At first I didn’t notice the “inside of the truck” white, but you’re right, that does help very subtly.

The thing I instantly “got” from the ad was one you didn’t mention: something along the lines of, “FedEx does twice the job.” Inside there are two UPS trucks, and that message was the first thing that struck me. FedEx can handle twice as much!

My guess is that the copywriter wrote the “gist” (whatever you were supposed to “get” from the ad), and the creatives simplified and simplified—maybe never intending to use words, or maybe just honed it to its essence until they didn’t require those words anymore.

FedEx is one of my favorite Big Boys, and this ad is an example of why. It’s art. You can stare at it and pull layers of meaning from it. Thanks for showing it off!

Regards,

Kelly

Kelly’s last blog post..Mail Bag: Are Holiday Cards OUT?

Graham says:
December 9th, 2008 at 10:14 am

Good eye, Kelly!

Yes, you are completely right — the fact that there are two trucks definitely has a bigger impact than if there were just one truck.

And you could be right on the copywriter thing too. My initial feeling was that this is a big company producing these ads, and the creative team likely had a copywriter (or several) on board at any point during development. The registration form had a spot for “copywriter” so they just put in the senior copywriter’s name.

Perhaps its the cynic in me that sees this scenario, because I find it ironic that such a creative company can get trapped within the confines of a registration form…!

(I think I like your optimistic explanation better… lol)

~Graham

TC/Copywriter Underground (1 comments.) says:
December 10th, 2008 at 8:46 pm

Graham: “Traditional” creative teams most always feature a copywriter, and my guess is that the truck concept was created by a copywriter, who deserves credit regardless of the lack of copy.

Advertising is the application of ideas to commerce, and most Creative Director slots are filled by copywriters - the folks who come up with most of the ideas. Too many copywriters assume some clear division of labor between visual and words - a division that doesn’t exist in most ad agencies.

TC/Copywriter Underground’s last blog post..The Coming Writer’s Bailout (or, Too Many Words to Fail)

Graham says:
December 10th, 2008 at 11:57 pm

Hey Tom,

I always wanted to be part of an agency, just to be a part of the whole creative machine. Yes, I think I can be creative, but look at the Beatles, for example. Lennon and McCartney both did their best work playing ideas off of one another (or at least knowing that the other would be listening to it at some point…)

Not to say I’m Lennon or McCartney. But the point is, I think I would have done well in an agency setting, playing ideas off other people.

Still, can’t beat the commute I have now…

~Graham

Leave a Reply