FedEx has kicked off a new campaign with Atmosphere BBDO, launchapackage.com, allowing users to upload and send documents and photos to friends in a virtual FedEx box.
The Web site is part of FedEx’s sponsorship of NASCAR car No. 11, driven by Denny Hamlin. The site’s first “package” was sent from Hamlin as the campaign launched on November 2.
According to Steve Pacheco, director of advertising for FedEx, nearly half of the 4,000 to 6,000 opt-in recipients of the virtual package have sent their own on to someone else.
“We don’t want to get too far away from our core business,” Pacheco added “[However,] we also still have a real need to speak to the community and marketers in general about electronically moving thingsàand our role in that as well.”
Cabot Norton, creative director of Atmosphere BBDO, said that the site originally started out as a banner ad a year ago. The user could pull back a slingshot and launch a FedEx package out of the ad. “After we did that and it was very successful, it was a great vehicle for a viral campaign,” said Norton.
For now, the site is set to be up only until the end of NASCAR season. “Depending on the final tally, we’re prepared to weave it into some of our other sports sponsorships and then some of our other small business initiatives,” said Pacheco.
Pacheco also considers this campaign a social networking push. “With social networks what they are, with everybody file sharing and sending things back and forth, we think it’s a great time to be in that environment,” he added.
“We really just want people to engage in the brand as much as possible and we really want to highlight what FedEx is, which is the ultimate delivery option,” said Norton.
