UPS, the official logistics and shipping partner of Ferrari F1, offered fans a chance to have their faces carried on the sidepods of the on the Scuderia Ferrari Formula One car at the 2015 Chinese Grand Prix via a special mosaic of the UPS shield.
The UPS Facebook page asked fans to upload their own photo to the UPS Mosaic Shield through the initiative’s app – to enter petrolheads simple had to follow the instructions on the UPS Shield tab or follow a campaign link (http://bit.ly/1wY1bhM) using hashtags #ForzaUPS and #F1.
This fairly straightforward, inclusive Facebook-led campaign invited fans to upload their personal profile pictures to be part of the campaign.
But, when UPS shared photos of team members fixing the finished logo shield to the Ferrari before the race, it was not the fan photos but an altogether cheekier image that hogged the headlines as the Ferrari SF-15T rolled out onto the track at the Chinese Grand Prix
Nope, it wasn’t some joker uploading a picture of former star driver Alonso that caused campaign chatter, but rather the presence of a well known, cartoon internet meme (beloved by teenage boys) called ‘Dick Butt’.
Whoever’s job it was to vet the fan photos failed to spot the aforementioned Mr Butt (a daft net meme from a from a webcomic that first appeared back in 2006) and he slipped through to the adorn the Ferrari – for a while at least.
As ever with such comedy errors, it soon acquired a Reddit thread and was covered by Mashable and then the articles were spotted by UPS who rapidly uploaded a new, Dick Butt-less version of the logo to Facebook.
UPS reacted fast to remove the image of the specially-made shield mosaic from its social channels and updated its Facebook page, while Ferrari officials quickly covered up the cartoon of the car.
‘The naughty cartoon has been rubbed out by a bit of felt tip,’ explained Ted Kravitz of Sky Sports F1 said while discussing the incident during the Chinese Grand Prix coverage during Saturday qualifying.
In a statement a UPS spokesperson said: ‘UPS thanks our social community for calling our attention to the inappropriate image that was submitted to our special version of the UPS shield. We have since recreated the mosaic that was built from images fans sent. All other photos will still appear on the Ferrari car at this weekend’s race.’
Comment
Ferrari may have had a good start to the season – after a (surprising) win in Malaysia and drivers Vettel and Raikkonen finishing third and fourth respectively – but the same can’t quite be said for UPS’ activation.
Or can it?
The democratic intentions behind the initiative may have been one based on solid insights: after all, getting your image on an F1 car (let alone a Ferrari) doesn’t usually come cheap and is way beyond the means of most fans.
But if you are going to get involved in fan-created content, then you need to have a serious filter to cut out the web jokers and the trolls.
This ‘fan photo mosaic on a car’ isn’t a new activation tactic – for example, back in 2013 it was used in Jaguar’s #BehindTeamSky campaign for the Tour De France (see previous case study).
While UPS might not have achieved one of the objectives behind its Ferrari partnership, namely creating compelling business case studies to highlight its service offerings, it certainly met its other aim of driving global awareness of the UPS brand in priority markets.
While UPS has been involved in motorsports for around 15 years, it wasn’t until early 2013 that it entered the F1 world via its partnership of the Ferrari team that saw UPS not only appear on the car, but act as logistics partner for Ferrari shifting the team’s materials and equipment around the world.
As Ferrari’s logistics and shipping partner, UPS also activates its rights through behind the scenes footage showcasing the people and passion who make it all happen across the globe.
UPS chose F1 because it offers a global reach and enables the company to engage in Asian markets which are a current region of focus for the company.
‘It is not just a sponsorship, it’s much more than that for us,’ said Christine Owens of UPS.
‘It gives us a chance to demonstrate our capabilities and to become a household name worldwide. We want to show our global capability, sending things from Europe to Asia, to the USA. F1 is truly global, it runs for 10 months of the year, which helps it to stay more top of the mind and nothing compares with its fanbase.’
Links
UPS Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/ups?brandloc=DISABLE&sk=app_607621189363571
UPS Twitter
UPS YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/user/ups
UPS Website
