BBDO in £30m FedEx ad review

Federal Express is reviewing its £30m European, Middle Eastern and Asian (EMEA) advertising business, held by the BBDO network.

Federal Express is reviewing its &£30m European, Middle Eastern and Asian (EMEA) advertising business, held by the BBDO network.

In the UK, the account is handled by Abbott Mead Vickers. BBDO, which has created campaigns using the tagline “Whatever it takes” and in 2001 launched an international television campaign for the brand. According to AC Nielsen, Federal Express spent &£2.63m on advertising in the UK in the year to September 2002.

The EMEA review could signal a global review. Senior US executives are understood to believe that BBDO is involving the company in consumer-led marketing activities at the expense of its business-to-business customers.

The news comes as rival courier DHL starts a global review just six months after appointing Ogilvy & Mather to the business (MW July 11, 2002).

Federal Express received a massive publicity boost three years ago when it featured heavily in the film Cast Away, starring Tom Hanks as a Federal Express delivery man. At the time, the deal was hailed as innovative, as Federal Express co-produced the film.

Federal Express’s second-quarter results, released in December, showed revenue of $5.67bn (&£3.5bn), up ten per cent year on year. The company had an influx of new customers last year in the US when employees of rival UPS threatened strike action.