At the ANA Brand Innovation Conference on Wednesday, Christine Owens, SVP, communications and brand mangement at UPS says she sees branding as science and art, "But branding is right brain, and my
people tell me that all the time. You can't dissect it, but we all know a brand, a good one when we see it." She describes UPS as a "breathing brand" with a soul. "Recent research shows that when
customers think of UPS they think ontime deliver and strustedd business partner," she said. In the 1990's the company expanded globally. "We become global logistics provider. Our brand identity had
trouble catching up," she said.
Owens said research showed people still thought of UPS as the old UPS. "They still perceived us as an American small-package delivery company. "Old fashioned,
reliable, trustworty but not innovative and forward looking," she says. "That's because we did not tell our story very well." She says UPS didn't run its first TV ads until 1984. "We thought our
trucks, employees and uniforms would provide all the competitive advanatage we needed."
In 2003 the company deployed a major brand relaunch with new logo and brand ID campaign to tout its
expansion to global operations. "We took the bow off the package on our logo, to symbolize that shipments are just as likely to be pallets and planeloads and used a shield as internaitonal symbol of
honor and strength.
Owens noted that the rebranding touched everything from vehicles, signage, uniforms, packaging and positioning. "Today we rank 15 on WPP's one hundred most powerful
brands, 31st on InterBrand's ranking of top brands, and number one on Forbe's most-admired list this year."
Per Owens the brand is not an "it" but a "who." "It's started and defined by
workers, employees. A brand is an external expression of a company's internal culture." She says the 103 year old brand has stayed consistent to the core. The intersection of people and culture. "we
set out to help more than 400,000 employees project and protect, making them brand ambassadors."