UPS (the United Parcel Service) introduced the trademarked slogan “What can Brown do for you?” in February 2002. UPS has used brown-painted vehicles since the 1920s; by at least the 1980s, UPS became known as “Big Brown.”
 
UPS has so many vehicles operating in New York City that it’s almost always the top recipient of parking tickets.
 
 
Wikipedia: United Parcel Service
United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE: UPS), colloquially referred to as UPS, is a package delivery company. Headquartered in Sandy Springs, Georgia, United States, UPS delivers more than 15 million packages a day to 6.1 million customers in more than 220 countries and territories around the world.
 
UPS is well known for its brown trucks, internally known as package cars (hence the company nickname “The Big Brown Machine”). UPS also operates its own airline (IATA: 5X, ICAO: UPS, Call sign: UPS) based in Louisville, Kentucky.
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Brown
The brown color that UPS uses on its vehicles and uniforms is called Pullman Brown. The color is also mentioned in their former advertising slogan: “What can Brown do for you?” Originally founder James E. Casey wanted the trucks to be yellow, but one of his partners, Charlie Soderstrom stated they would be impossible to keep clean, and that Pullman railroad cars were brown for just that reason.
 
Business First
UPS unveils ‘What can brown do for you?’ ad campaign
Date: Thursday, February 7, 2002, 3:45pm EST
Atlanta-based United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS) has launched the largest and most aggressive television and print advertising campaign in its 95-year history.
 
“What can brown do for you?”—only the fifth tagline in the company’s history—represents continuity across the UPS brand as it extends its capabilities into logistics, freight forwarding, customs clearance, technology and finance, according to a news release from the shipping giant that is the Louisville-area’s largest employer.
   
WalletPop
Aug 30th 2010 at 6:00AM
10 best company nicknames
WalletPop Staff
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UPS
Popular Nickname: Big Brown
Did You Know? The simplicity of a brand name or symbol confers status on a company. Decades ago, the symbol might literally have been a stock symbol: the oldest companies got one letter ticker symbols from the New York Stock Exchange. United Parcel Service now gets that status by taking an entire color: brown. The company first started using its trademark brown trucks in the 1920s when it delivered appliances and other goods for department stores. UPS has embraced its brown branding, and even asks in its advertising, “What can Brown do for you?”
 
(Trademark)
Word Mark WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR YOU?
Goods and Services IC 039. US 100 105. G & S: Transportation and delivery of personal property by air, rail, boat and motor vehicle. FIRST USE: 20020207. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20020207
Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING
Serial Number 76362315
Filing Date January 24, 2002
Current Filing Basis 1A
Original Filing Basis 1B
Published for Opposition August 20, 2002
Registration Number 2649286
Registration Date November 12, 2002
Owner (REGISTRANT) United Parcel Service of America, Inc. CORPORATION DELAWARE 55 Glenlake Parkway, NE Atlanta GEORGIA 30328
Attorney of Record Stephen M. Schaetzel
Type of Mark SERVICE MARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Affidavit Text SECT 15. SECT 8 (6-YR).
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