FedEx and Economist Deliver a Changing World

FedEx is launching a digital web experience as part of its global advertising campaign focused on business trends and insights.

The brand's new FedEx Delivers to a Changing World microsite invites users to interact with content from The Economist Intelligence Unit, the research arm of The Economist, on topics including air travel, urban populations, entrepreneurs and success, the coffee effect, household appliances, education, recycled paper, and more.

An animated, dynamic world map that transmogrifies second by second mirroring trends in real-time is a central feature. Visitors can analyze EIU data, share information, participate in polls and print a 2D marker that illuminates as a floating 3D world globe with economic indicators by country.

“Using a webcam, a consumer can hold up a FedEx print ad to discover a world’s worth of data within the box,” according to the website.

"We thought the site would be an interesting, visual way to demonstrate how the world is changing and provide customers with interesting views on the world and trends impacting global business opportunities," said Brenda McWilliams, managing director of brand and communications for FedEx.

The digital campaign will be deployed in 14 markets, including Brazil, Mexico, China, Japan, South Korea, Germany, India and the United Kingdom — and in eight languages.

Not intended as a "heavily branded" initiative, "It's there to spark ideas; for each data point, there's an article or slide show that explores the topic further, including FedEx-specific content related to that topic. So if they are interested in how FedEx is involved, they can see that, too," says McWilliams.

With creative from BBDO, FedEx’s agency since 1989, a cross-network team from the Philippines and New York worked on design and development with Virginia-based Grow Interactive.

The collaboration with The Economist may not be an overt brand-building exercise for FedEx (or The Economist, for that matter), but it further cements both brands' promise of being relevant, smart, timely — and particularly for FedEx — on time, if not ahead of the curve.