Stronger Concepts through Strategy
Class Assignment

Setting the Stage

The assignment is focused on Airborne Express, a local Seattle company and the third largest competitor in the air delivery, freight and parcel services industry behind FedEx and UPS. Since Airborne is also part of the larger transportation industry, the company has experienced many of the same business challenges as the airlines, post-September 11. However, through strict expense control methods, the company posted a profit in 3Q and 4Q 2001.

Airborne has been expanding its service offering with the addition of ground service and E-Courier, a secure electronic document transfer service. At the same time, Airborne has been conducting an internal brand redefinition project so that the company can better articulate its offering and increase market share.

Brent Haerle, Airborne’s Creative Services Manager, is here this week to brief you about the Airborne brand and the process that’s been used to redefine the brand.Class Assignment: Creative Concepts and Design Execution

Select one of the two assignments as the focus for your project:

1) Develop a theme for Airborne’s 2001 Annual Report and depict this theme through a
cover and interior spread design.

In developing your theme and design concept, consider the challenges of the past year and
the company’s new service offerings. Most important is to communicate elements of the
redefined Airborne brand through the annual report theme and accompanying design.

2) Develop a theme for Airborne’s 2001 Annual Report and write the opening section of the
Shareholders’ Letter (500 words).

In developing your theme and narrative text, consider the challenges of the past year and
the company’s new service offerings. Most important is to communicate elements of the
redefined Airborne brand through the annual report theme and accompanying text.

A Three-Part Assignment

• Part One: Conduct preliminary research on Airborne to familiarize yourself with the
company’s history, product offerings, competitors and financial picture, along with the look
and feel of their communications. This will help you prepare questions for tonight’s briefing.

• Part Two: Select one of the two assignment options and prepare a creative brief based on
your research and tonight’s brand briefing.

• Part Three: Present your Annual Report theme and design or narrative text to Brent and
your colleagues during the final class.

Learning Objectives

• To develop business research skills in preparation for creative assignments

• To determine what information you need from a client while developing targeted questions
and listening skills to gather this information

• To write an effective creative brief that demonstrates understanding of both business and
creative objectives related to a specific project

• To use business information as a foundation for developing strategic creative solutions to
business challenges

Resources and Guidelines

• Types of research should include looking at Airborne’s Web site, referring to Web sites on
the resource sheet and your own fieldwork.

• We will designate time at the end of class during Weeks Three and Four to answer questions
about the creative brief and to review thumbnails.

• Each of you will have 5 minutes to present and explain your concepts, and answer 5 minutes
of questions. Please turn in your creative brief to me for evaluation.

Creative Brief Outline

The creative brief must contain the following information and any additional information you wish to include:

• Project Summary: what the project is about, in one descriptive sentence.

• Business Objectives: what business results do we want to achieve through this project
(e.g., brand awareness, increase in sales, higher profit margin, larger market share, etc.).

• Creative Objectives: what creative goals have we established for this project (e.g., integrate
brand attributes, communicate service or event effectively to the target audience, etc.).

• Competitive Analysis: who are Airborne’s major competitors, what market share do they
claim and how is their offering and communications style different from Airborne’s?

• Target Audience: who is Airborne targeting with the Annual Report and what are the target
audience’s needs and concerns?

• Creative Recommendation: what is our creative concept and why is it appropriate for this
project, relative to business and creative objectives (e.g., why does this option work?).