Have you seen the new YouTube video that shows DHL tricking its competitors into delivering huge packages promoting its brand to major metropolitan areas around the world? It's truly an innovative and hilarious prank whereby a marketing agency came up with the brilliant idea of using thermo active packaging that is black when frozen but reveals a message as the temperature warms up. The agency shipped several large packages through their DHL competitors to hard-to-find addresses in major cities throughout Europe that had the hidden message "DHL Is Faster". As UPS, Fedex, TNT and other delivery services transported the five feet tall packages through busy city intersection and the temperature got warmer, big red letters on the side of the package appeared promoting the DHL brand and its slogan "DHL Is Faster". What could be sweeter than hundreds of consumers chuckling as a UPS delivery person wrestles a large box promoting their competitor down a busy thoroughfare. You say that is a lot of money to pay to prank your competition and give a couple hundred people a good chuckle. That's true, but like many marketing strategies these days, the idea was surely to cause a buzz on social media. And it worked! So far, more than 600,000 people have viewed the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHVWegNfQl0">video</a> and I'm sure many of them have clicked through to the DHL website to send a package. Although I haven's seen any official results of the campaign, and DHL claims they had nothing to do with the prank, I'm sure it has gained them several news customers and much greater recognition for being faster than their competitors. There is another lesson to be learned form this clever idea - and that is how powerful innovative packaging can be in growing a brand. But that is the topic of a future blog.
