Federal Express Corp. is using the NCAA Bowl Championship Series to introduce new TV spots in its ongoing, humorous "Be absolutely sure" campaign.
The new 30- and 60-second commercials broke during the Jan. 1 broadcast of the Rose Bowl on ABC. The spots also aired that night during the Sugar Bowl and on Jan. 2 during the Orange Bowl, for which FedEx is the title sponsor.
They also will run during tonight's broadcast of the Fiesta Bowl. All the buys are on ABC.
BBDO Worldwide, New York, is the agency.
The new spots, entitled "Takeoffs," focus on the delivery service's fleet of planes and global network. They feature FedEx planes flying over various cities, and are set to the tune of popular songs about those cities.
`APRIL IN PARIS'
The songs, from such artists as Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Willie Nelson and Little Richard, include "Sweet Home Alabama," "April in Paris," "Chicago," "Oklahoma" and "18 Miles from Memphis."
FedEx will continue to run the spots after the college bowls, but declined to say whether they would be used if the marketer advertises on this year's Super Bowl.
The marketer spent $41.7 million on advertising this year through September according to Competitive Media Reporting.
Dave Shoenfeld, senior VP-worldwide marketing, said the new batch of FedEx ads continue the tradition of campaigns for the delivery service from the '70s, '80s and early '90s.
"All of those ads demonstrated our reach and reliability," said Mr. Shoenfeld.
