CCNY's BIC foundational course Business Strategy & Measurement, taught by Scott Elias, focused on business growth-specifically; how brands have been and are created and curated, acquired and sold. Students learned how to develop, design and implement branding and integrated strategies that optimize business growth, brand equity (value), vitality, and resonance. Our final assignment focused on business process, facts and findings about the consumer, and the competition and societal landscapes of a brand of choice. As a small team of four, my group tackled the United States Postal Service (USPS). The final presentation included a situational review on the past and current brand perception as well as competitive research on the mail delivery and courier industry, a brand brief framework and identity, and finally an integrated marketing communications plan (IMCP) for the proposed repositioning of USPS. As team lead, I managed the production (visual design and formatting) and editing of the final PPT presentation and led the content areas related to the consumer audience and their voice and the IMCP. I’m particularly proud of my Instagram idea and mockup on slide 33. Semester: Fall 2013

1. VISION, BRAND & INTEGRATED
MARKETING PROPOSAL
THE AAY-JENCY +
Presented By: Alex Suazo, Javier Garcia, Yanin De Jesus, Alex Dean
CCNY Branding & Integrated Communications
Business Strategy & Measurement – Final Presentation
Professor Scott Elias – Fall 2013

2. WHAT WE’LL COVER
1. DISCOVERY
– ENDURING CORE & ENVISIONED FUTURE
– SITUATIONAL REVIEW & SWOT ANALYSIS
– AUDIENCE SEGMENTS & CUSTOMER SENTIMENT
– BRAND & PROJECT BRIEF
2. STRATEGY & IDENTITY
3. INTEGRATED COMMUNICATIONS PLAN
– STRATEGIC CAMPAIGN TACTICS
4. CONCLUSION
2THE AAY-JENCY | BIC

3. DISCOVERY
3

4. USPS possesses a wide range of unique and own-able properties that help
substantiate the need for a brand repositioning. Their reliable, loyal, and dutiful
legacy is substantiated by the fact that:
• Roots tracing back 238 years to its founding as the United States Post Office (USPO) by order of the
Second Continental Congress - dedicated as ever to serving the American people.
• USPS delivers to every residential location in America, without fail.
• 20.6% of all USPS are military veteran career employees
• 40% of the world’s mail is delivered via USPS
• UPS and FedEx rely on the USPS to deliver to areas where they either can’t or don’t deem financially
viable to do so
• If USPS were a private company, they would consistently outrank UPS and FedEx every year, ranking
42nd in 2012 with $65.2B in revenue.
• USPS remains the category leader of delivery innovations for both consumer and commercial mail, with
services such as flat rate mailing
4
VISION STRUCTURE
ENDURING CORE
THE AAY-JENCY | BIC

5. Be the American eagle rising from the ashes.
By repositioning themselves as a loyal and reliable
friend, the USPS can shift their perception to be seen
for who they really are: the industry leading service
with a sense of duty that delivers mail without fail.
5
VISION STRUCTURE
ENVISIONED FUTURE
THE AAY-JENCY | BIC

6. SITUATIONAL REVIEW
USPS is facing many challenges and inevitable market forces
within the social, business and industry landscapes that stem
from rapid changes in demand for traditional products and the
limitations for responding that are inherent current business
models.
Some examples of these forces include:
• customers’ economic uncertainty
• the evolution of the nature of mail
• potential regulatory legislative changes.
6THE AAY-JENCY | BIC

7. SWOT ANALYSIS
7
STRENGTH
The postal service still has the essential
mission of delivering mail to every
community in America, which private
companies like FedEx or UPS would
probably charge a lot more for, especially
for rural addresses that are hard to
reach.
WEAKNESS
- Inability to adapt to a transformed digital-first costumer as
quickly as competitors have due to lack of flexible revenue and
smart marketing.
- Micromanaged by Congress with strict rules
- Can’t sell non-postal products even though they have
thousands of retail locations
- Campaigns that lack strategy
OPPORTUNITY
Integrate mail and technology while
keeping the civic mandate to uphold
privacy and security.
THREATS
According to Fast Company, “Mail volume declined by more than
43B pieces in the past 5 years and is continuing to decline ...
and letters bearing postage stamps declined 36% in the same
time frame, and nearly 50% in the past ten years.” (2011).
Another threat is market share: competitors like FedEx, UPS and
DHL all have strong work forces, competitive pricing, and daily
delivery as well.
THE AAY-JENCY | BIC

8. AUDIENCE SEGMENTS
8
RESIDENTIAL/CONSUMER BUSINESS/ECOMMERCE GOVERNMENT
THE AAY-JENCY | BIC

9. WHAT ARE THE CONSUMERS SAYING
9THE AAY-JENCY | BIC

10. BRAND BRIEF
• Project Background: It has come to our attention that USPS is
perceived as an underdog company despite their 200+ year
legacy of serving the American people.
• Preliminary Findings
– If USPS were a private sector company, it would rank 42nd in
the 2012 Fortune 500, compared to UPS which ranked 52nd
and FedEx 70th.
– ~20% of employees are military veterans dedicated to their
work and serving the American people.
These findings were very curious to us because they aligned
with USPS’ “reliable, efficient, highly trusted and unique
universal service”, but not with customers’ opposing perception.
10THE AAY-JENCY | BIC

11. BRAND BRIEF
• Visual Findings: Overall, the branding that exists is
consistent across all assets.
• Brand Issue: Customers have a false perception of
USPS due to the lack of speedy customer service and
yearlong consumer-facing messaging
Project Objective: Rebuild and reposition the USPS brand
to drive preference, market share, and increase in sales.
11THE AAY-JENCY | BIC

12. BRAND STRATEGY
& IDENTITY
12

13. WAIT A MINUTE MR. POSTMAN
13
click to listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=425GpjTSlS4

14. BRAND IDENTITY PLATFORM
14
POSITIONING PERSONALITY PROPOSITION
THE AAY-JENCY | BIC

15. POSITIONING
15

16. PERSONALITY
16THE AAY-JENCY | BIC

17. PROPOSITION
17THE AAY-JENCY | BIC

18. BRAND EVOLUTION
• Postal service employees were once rooted in American culture, with songs written
about them and TV characters written for their role.
• A gradual change in perception in the media could be seen between 1980’s-90’s in
the form of media coverage of the more than 20 incidents of workplace shootings by
USPS employees, and the representation of USPS employees embodied by the
character Newman, from the hit TV show Seinfeld.
• Negative perceptions of the USPS and its employees have become commonplace,
with most consumers expecting negative service experiences such as long lines and
disgruntled employees.
• These perceptions lend an opportunity to shift perception positively by realigning the
brand to stand for their employees’ reliability, loyalty and their unwavering
commitment to deliver best-in-class services and innovations that meet the needs of
their consumers.
18THE AAY-JENCY | BIC

19. 19

20. AUDIENCE TOUCHPOINTS
20THE AAY-JENCY | BIC

21. LIVING PRINCIPLES

22. COMPETITIVE OVERVIEW
22THE AAY-JENCY | BIC

23. THE AAY-JENCY 23

24. LANDSCAPE TRENDS
24THE AAY-JENCY | BIC

25. THE AAY-JENCY 25
INTEGRATED
MARKETING PLAN

26. THE PROBLEM
Despite USPS’ stellar business performance, dutiful ex-military
employee base, and category-leading delivery records, the
company suffers from shrinking sales, negative profits and
poor perception.
26THE AAY-JENCY | BIC

27. THE SOLUTION & INCENTIVE
Our marketing communications strategy will shift this
current consumer perception to drive preference for
USPS and increase sales.
27
INCENTIVE STATEMENT
To Americans, USPS is the courier they can rely on
because they honor their legacy of serving
the American people.
THE AAY-JENCY | BIC

28. BEHAVIORAL SHIFT
America currently sees USPS
as a government owned
agency on the verge of a
collapse.
28
CURRENT DESIRED SHIFT
Americans will see a brand that
they have a personal
connection with, which delivers
to their home daily, without fail.
This connection will drive
Americans to continue to trust
and rely on USPS and stop
using other couriers.
THE AAY-JENCY | BIC

29. PROPOSED BRAND PERSONALITY
USPS is a reliable and loyal friend.
29THE AAY-JENCY | BIC

30. STRATEGIC CAMPAIGN TACTICS
• USPS Internal Rallying Cry
• Build A Social Media
Conversation That Matters
• Co-branding
• Print & Social Media
Memories
30THE AAY-JENCY | BIC

31. INTERNAL RALLYING CRY
Since its inception, USPS has been an all-American
brand that has delivered the tangible experience of
“mail” and letters every day for decades.
USPS employees need to understand this, to their
core, and rally internally:
“Email belongs to the workforce. When people want
to make it count, they send regular mail via USPS.”
31THE AAY-JENCY | BIC

32. SOCIAL MEDIA THAT MATTERS
• Encourage consumers to talk more about USPS and share their personal
experiences on social media.
• Build a “face” for USPS on social media that serves two key purposes:
1. 24/7 reliable and responsive customer service
• Twitter: Postman Bob, a retired mailman, answering all your questions
and concerns 24/7. @USPSHelp
2. Re-humanize the “postman” by sharing his quirky day-to-day activities
which customers aren’t aware of because they’ve never met him and
don’t think about the person that delivers their mail daily.
• Postman Danny: a Tumblr (& Instagram) diary
32THE AAY-JENCY | BIC

33. THE AAY-JENCY 33
@PostManDanny
Resident postman for the 11011 area. Follow me and the crazy
things I see on my routes. #dogs #lawnstatues #lawndecorations

34. CO-BRANDING WITH GMAIL
USPS could co-brand with
Google to create an email-
based system with added
transactional value.
Gmail users would have the
option to print and mail a
hard copy of any e-mail or
document archive.
34
Haven’t heard from
this person in a while?
Send them a real
letter instead.
THE AAY-JENCY | BIC

35. PRINT & MAIL SOCIAL MEDIA MEMORIES
Users on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, could create, print and send
physical social media “memories” and photo albums for Holidays,
Birthdays, or “just because”, through a USPS integrated social media app.
THE AAY-JENCY 35

36. CONCLUSION
• Our ultimate goal is to help Americans understand that
USPS is not just a government agency but a brand that is as
American as its customers; USPS believes in hard work, and
is always there for its customers, wherever they are.
• We will reignite USPS so that consumers trust and rely on
us again. Americans will write more letters, buy stamps to
mail those letters, and re-connect with their postman –
ultimately changing perceptions of the USPS and increasing
sales.
36THE AAY-JENCY | BIC

37. THANK YOU.
37