FedEx Blows a Big Citizen Marketing Opportunity
Imagine you have a customer who loves you so much that he is willing to furnish 100% of his house with your packaging and gush about it online. Would you: embrace him, fly him in to meet your CEO and put him in your PR or advertising campaigns? Or would you just unleash the sharks?
That's the situation FedEx faced with the FedEx Furniture Guy. For awhile, Jose was enthusiastically expressing his love for FedEx by posting photos of his apartment and also blogging about his antics. Not too long after he started, however, he naturally received a cease and desist letter (PDF) from the shipping company. You know how the movie ends, right?
Exactly. By making the wrong choice, FedEx is now the media's laughing stock. What's worse, they haven't budged a bit, according to Alexander Muse. For more, read Alexander's FedEx Furniture archive.
When will these companies learn the value of a customer evangelist?
Technorati Tags: FedEx, FedExFurniture
Wow. Thats amazingly stupid.
Don't ever understimate corporate stupidity.
Time to throw out my FedEx pajamas.
Posted by: Kevin Burton | Tuesday, August 16, 2005 at 12:18 PM
I hope Jose does not switch to UPS .. brown .. can you imagine how boring his hair would be? :-)
DHL on the other hand uses VIVID YELLOW ... in fact they just spent a ton of $ on rebranding/coloring, they might want to PAY Jose to turn YELLOW :-))
Posted by: Zoli Erdos | Tuesday, August 16, 2005 at 12:38 PM
OMG, it's really hard to have an original idea nowadays. After posting the previous comment I went on to read Jose's Blog, and look what I've found:
"One email stood out… It came from a dhl.com address. According to the emailer “our (DHL’s) color is more contemporary and will add some flare to your place,” … Maybe other shipping comapnies are realizing that the concept isnt all bad."
Kudos to DHL.
Posted by: Zoli Erdos | Tuesday, August 16, 2005 at 12:44 PM
How is this customer evangelism? He took boxes to build furniture, not for sending out product.
I love FedEx - I am a huge evangelist, and will not use any other shipping service. When my office switched to DHL, I stuck with FedEx ... because when I have had problems, they were very proactive.
But, stealing boxes that cost money to build furniture does what for the company, beyond costing money and materials? I'm sorry - if I were Ketchum, I would be counseling FedEx to stay the course, that they are doing the right thing, as this will blow over. And, oh, it's theft.
Posted by: Jeremy Pepper | Tuesday, August 16, 2005 at 01:32 PM
All I can say is look at the mileage that Subway got out of Jared. He showed up at my kids' school last year as part of a campaign they did around the US that featured kids who had lost way via the "Jared plan", and they got a ton of local press out of it. Not to mention the mini-evangelists they spawned.
And as far as "stealing" do you think FedEx would really mind if every one of us walked around with FedEx stuff and became a walking billboard for them? I guarantee you the value of the press they could get off this guy far outweighs the cost of the materials, even if you multiplied it by thousands.
Posted by: Jon Lowder | Tuesday, August 16, 2005 at 02:32 PM
Well, their competition over at UPS isn't exactly riding the Cluetrain either. Witness my UPS shirt fiasco.
Posted by: Darren | Tuesday, August 16, 2005 at 03:49 PM
Fed Ex really needs to take a lesson from the duct tape folks:
http://www.ducktapeclub.com/contests/prom/entries.asp
Not only did they embrace the emerging kids culture surrounding duct tape prom dresses and tuxes, but they now sponsor a yearly contest.
Fed Ex doesn't get it.
--*Rob
Posted by: Rob Usdin | Tuesday, August 16, 2005 at 08:32 PM
While I can see that FedEx wouldn't want to be furnishing every dorm room in America with thier free boxes, I say they should've run with this & started charging a nominal fee per box for non-shipping use.
What better marketing to the next Bezos than suppling his office furniture. Cooler than a door over milk crates at least.
Posted by: wayan | Wednesday, August 17, 2005 at 08:38 AM
I think that Mr.Avila, a/k/a “David,” could settle this whole matter and appease the lawyers at Fedex a/k/a “Goliath” by simply agreeing to SHIP his furniture to his next residence. Suffice to say, Fedex lawyers incontestably do NOT think outside the box, do they?
Posted by: Jim | Friday, August 26, 2005 at 08:44 PM
Here is an idea: How Fans of FedEx can build their business
http://blog.detectivemarketing.com/2005/10/how-fans-of-fedex-can-build-their.html
Posted by: Stefan Engeseth | Friday, October 14, 2005 at 04:24 AM