A few weeks ago UPS ran a TV advertisement dealing with the NCAA basketball tournament that tried to connect a pass that won "the greatest game" to its theme of logistical excellence. This blog post received 482 shares and 181 comments. Why?
In a 1992 game, "The Unforgettables" from the University of Kentucky had pulled ahead by one point in the closing seconds of overtime against Duke who were the defending national champions. Little did they know, the game wasn't over yet. Duke player Grant Hill threw the ball almost the length of the court to Christian Laettner, who turned and made the winning shot leaving Kentucky no time to answer.
“Everybody remembers the shot. But what about the pass? No pass, no shot,” the narrator says. “You need a special player to get the ball exactly where it needs to be, exactly when it needs to be there.”
Kentucky fans exploded. Not only was this the most heart-breaking loss in the history of their sports program which UPS was now playing over and over again, but UPS has major facilities in Kentucky.
UPS decides to address the controversy in a blog trying to sooth irate Kentucky fans by creating a post by an actual Kentucky graduate that explained the thinking behind the ad.
“I know our new ads will anger some UK fans, but if you truly look at that game with an objective eye, it’s hard to think of a better example of what determined people working together toward a common goal can accomplish—and that’s what UPS is all about.
“No one should think that UPS has some kind of anti-UK bias. On the contrary, UPS loves Kentucky. We love it so much we established our primary air hub in the commonwealth, which has driven the creation of 33,000 jobs with $300 million in annual payroll.”
This also didn't work. Kentucky fans responded with:
“Here’s an idea for your next UPS ad. How about you detail the ‘logistics’ of a major company receiving huge tax breaks from a state as an incentive to move there. Then you could show the ‘teamwork’ required to make an ad highlighting the most heartbreaking moment in that state’s sports history. Sounds like another winner.
“It’s bad you wrote this post trying to justify the ad, but to do so in such a condescending manner explaining to everyone how great the play was makes it even worse.”
Many Kentucky fans vowed never to use UPS again. UPS could suffer greatly from this ad.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
UPS Backfire
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1 comment:
Yea I feel like the people in Kentucky who are giving UPS problems are psycho. The ad fits what UPS does accurately. The ad is also played at the perfect time during the NCAA Tournament also. According to the ad, all everyone sees is the shot but no one aknowledges how great of a pass it was. Similar to UPS, everyone just sees the package that is on their doorstep, but they do not pay homage to UPS and the things they had to do in order to get the package to the peoples' doorstep. No shot without the perfect execution on the pass. No package on the doorstep without the perfect execution by UPS to get the package to the door. Perfect ad.
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