USPS Adds a Product Line | Beyond Madison Avenue

TalentZoo.com | Flack Me | Digital Pivot | Beneath the Brand

Archives | Categories

USPS Adds a Product Line

By: Dwayne W. Waite Jr.

When times get tough for brands, that is the best time to employ creative problem solving. When profits fall and losses are posted, the most often-used solution for brands is to shed jobs, services, and availability. Sometimes shedding is the best option, but we all know that it is not always the case.

Using creative problem solving means that the brand can look at unconventional ways to solve an issue. Instead of thinking about how it can stop the losses, it can think about how it can grow its revenue or assets in other forms or fashion.

The USPS, for example, picked fashion.

Yes, the quasi-federal agency, the United States Postal Service, announced a new product line: the "Rain Heat and Snow" clothing collection. The USPS is pairing up with a clothing manufacturer in Cleveland, OH and the pair plan to introduce clothing that is best for those in troublesome weather areas. The collection will also offer clothing known as "smart apparel," which means that the clothing will be gadget friendly. This isn't the first time the USPS is going down to fashion town; in the 1980s the postal service did something similar, but was ordered to stop due to its vague existence within the federal system and therefore being labeled as a threat to private enterprise.

But now that private enterprise is winning, will it matter? Will the USPS go on the offensive and launch a campaign introducing the clothing to the public? None of the sources say.

We found this news to be very interesting. We like the move. With the way information travels and is delivered, the USPS are facing few possibilities. It can either fold its operations, totally revamp the way it does things, or get creative by expanding into different markets.

Let's give the postmaster and his crew some credit; many of the business "leaders" out there today would have settled with cutting back and buying a smaller, more efficient firm to simulate its workflow. At least the USPS is trying to hang in there, and even with the Congress breathing down their necks, it is surviving.

The clothing line is set to appear in 2014. Let's see if the clothing line will arrive on time.

blog comments powered by Disqus

About the Author

Dwayne W. Waite Jr. is partner and principal at JDW: The Charlotte Agency, a marketing and advertising shop in Charlotte, NC. He enjoys consumer behavior, economics, and football.

Beyond Madison Avenue on