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UPS Embraces New Logo, Colors

ATLANTA (Reuters) – United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE:UPS – News) said on Tuesday it was changing its familiar brown-and-gold logo and adding a catch phrase to its vast fleet of chocolate-colored planes and trucks as part of an effort to modernize its image.

The world’s No. 1 package deliverer said the changes are meant to reflect the company’s move into new global markets as well as emerging businesses, such as the fast-growing area of supply chain services.

“UPS is a vastly different company today than most people realize,” Chairman and Chief Executive Mike Eskew said in a statement. “Today we are bringing our look up to speed with our capabilities.”

The makeover will include removing the familiar bow-tied parcel that sits atop its brown-and-gold “shield” logo. The old logo, which was designed in 1961, appears on 257 jet airplanes, 88,000 vehicles and countless uniforms.

Atlanta-based UPS is also planning to add the phrase “Synchronizing the World of Commerce” to its fleet. A new advertising campaign stressing the synchronicity theme will be launched this week.

The company, which is sometimes referred to simply as “Brown,” said a palette of different colors would enhance its familiar brown colors on aircraft, package envelopes and other assets.

The Mail Boxes Etc. franchises, which were acquired in 2001, will be included in the redesign.

UPS’ moves come at a time when its main rival, Memphis, Tennessee-based FedEx Corp. (NYSE:FDX – News), has been making gains in the lucrative U.S. ground-delivery market.

Last week, FedEx reported that its ground volumes grew 24 percent in its most recent quarter ended on Dec. 31. UPS’ ground volumes fell 1.5 percent in its fourth quarter.

A UPS spokesman said the company expected to spend $20 million on its redesign in 2003, excluding the cost of advertising and would take about three years to repaint its vehicles and six years to finish its jets.

Although the makeover occurs amid an aggressive push by UPS into the market for warehousing, customs brokerage and other logistics services, the company cautioned that it was not abandoning its core businesses.

Last year, UPS unveiled its “What Brown Can Do for You” advertising campaign, touting its growing range of services to customers in more than 200 markets around the world.

“Package delivery is and will remain the foundation of our business,” Eskew said on Tuesday.

Shares of UPS fell $2.07, or 3.5 percent, to close at $57.78 on Monday on the New York Stock Exchange (News – Websites), in line with a broad market drop. FedEx dropped $1.80, or 3.1 percent, to $55.46.