The U.S. Postal Service will let consumers make purchases on USPS.com with PayPal beginning next month. The organization will also streamline users’ site accounts into one umbrella login and make site pages available in Chinese and Spanish, said USPS spokesperson Patricia Licata.
The Postal Service is working with digital agency AKQA on the site’s design changes.
The USPS will also launch a TV ad campaign on Sept. 24 to promote its First-Class mail products. The campaign will feature two spots that promote the security of First-Class mail and its personal nature, respectively. The ads will run during programs including CBS’ 60 Minutes, NBC’s Sunday Night Football and SEC college football games, said Joyce Carrier, advertising manager at USPS.
The USPS said Aug. 5 that First-Class mail volume declined 6% year-over-year to 17.7 billion pieces in the third quarter of its fiscal year.
The campaign will also include direct mail, Web banners, print ads and social-media components that will drive consumers to USPS.com/mail, which will launch on September 21. USPS worked with its creative agency Campbell-Ewald on the campaign. The organization transitioned the Facebook page for its Stamps division to a corporate page for the agency “about a month ago,” said Carrier.
“What we’ve found out [through a consumer-research initiative] in the First Class, especially the bill-payment and presentment aspect of it, is that there are a lot of people who just feel very secure and safe with having hard copies. So we’re going after what folks have told us,” she said.
In January, the USPS will shift the campaign’s focus to its marketing mail business, said Carrier. The effort will drive consumers to an online tool that enables businesses to create direct-mail campaigns.
