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2000


1994




2000 brand architecture

!n 1994, Federal Express adopted the communicative name and logo "FedEx." (See FedEx 1994 case.)

Then in January 1998, Federal Express Corporation acquired Caliber Systems Inc. and its portfolio of shipping and logistics businesses including RPS, a small-package ground service, Roberts Express and several others. A new parent holding company, "FDX Corp," was formed to contain these Caliber businesses as well as the core FedEx Express business, and "Caliber" was discontinued.

This 1998 acquisition was in effect the beginning of a two-year rebranding event. Over the next two years, FDX Corp. worked to assimilate these subsidiaries, which had redefined and expanded the scope of FedEx. In January 2000, founding CEO Frederick W. Smith completed the rebranding, using a variety of tools to extend the FedEx brand asset to many more selected units... thus broadening its meaning from "express" to a more comprehensive view of logistical services. "It's time to leverage and extend one of our greatest assets, the FedEx brand, and to provide our customers an integrated set of business solutions," Smith said.

The corporate presence itself was renamed, from FDX to FedEx (expressed in purple-gray). Four more defining units were identified (in addition to FedEx Express), renamed descriptively, and color-coded. RPS, for example, became FedEx Ground (purple-green), and Roberts Express became FedEx Custom Critical (purple-blue). The result -- a monolithic signature system with color pallettes used to express service specializations. A perceived product gap was filled with the creation of FedEx Home Delivery, to be provided through the FedEx Ground network. (Several other units such as Viking Freight and Carribean Transportation Services were not rebranded as FedEx, resulting in a mixed signature system, part monolithic and part verbal endorsement.)

In addition to product changes and some unit reorganization, a re-alignment of employees was probably the strongest rebranding message. The various rebranded units' sales and support people were consolidated in one new FedEx relationship management team.

The rebranding idea of the new FedEx services portfolio was launched with a surge of advertising, but made far more visible by the appearance of trucks with startingly different FedEx colors. 

Landor advised on brand architecture, naming and design (color coding) 

Submitted by: Tony Spaeth, 16/05/2007
Status: Estimated by Tony Spaeth
Category: Support Services
Country (HQ): United States