Meet Blu, The UPS Store’s New Brand Character

By Heather Taylor, Editor-in-Chief, PopIcon

Few spokescharacters, and mascots, exist in the small business space, but The UPS Store is changing this narrative with the debut of Blu, their first-ever brand character.

Created by ad agency Doner, Blu provides small business owners (SBOs) with hands-on support in a friendly, level-headed manner. But there’s more to Blu than you may realize as evident by the new campaign’s commercial spots. Business owners need only to simply say, “Hey Blu?” aloud and Blu drops into their space via a glowing, blue portal.

Magical? Yes. Intentional? Also, yes. Michelle Van Slyke, senior vice president of marketing and sales at The UPS Store, compares Blu’s ability to break reality and time to that of Mary Poppins.

We spoke to Van Slyke about all things Blu, including The UPS Store’s decision to go with a brand character rather than a mascot, where the idea came from for a portal that allows Blu to drop into a small business owner’s world and provide instant assistance and what consumers can expect from The UPS Store, and Blu, in this new campaign.

How did The UPS Store decide on a brand character rather than a mascot for this campaign?

The UPS Store decided to go the route of a brand character rather than a brand mascot because we wanted Blu to be a human embodiment of all The UPS Store has to offer – including our award-winning customer service and the thousands of franchise owners and associates nationwide committed to supporting small business owners.​​ Blu represents the breadth and depth of our small business resources, from professional printing to reliable shipping, secure mailboxes and more, and our one-stop convenience. Blu helps to create an emotional connection to the brand and bring The UPS Store experience to life.

How did you settle on the name (and what does Blu mean in relation to The UPS Store)?

We settled on the name Blu because sky blue is the brand color for The UPS Store – and the color of the polo shirt worn by franchisees and associates who greet you as you walk through the door. Blue also ties back to our in-store environment and our new store design, which has been rolling out nationwide over the past several years. This color was picked during our store redesign process after we conducted extensive research about different colors in a retail setting.  

The character was created through extensive franchisee and customer research and rigorous testing by Doner, ensuring Blu authentically reflects the values and experiences small business owners look for. Blu brings the breadth of The UPS Store services to life with a voice that’s approachable, optimistic and unmistakably human – helpful without being corporate, knowledgeable without being intimidating and confident without being cocky. Blu is the ultimate small business support helping SBOs through real-world, relatable challenges.

Can you tell me more about how you decided Blu would use a portal to instantly reach small business owners?

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We knew we wanted Blu to provide instant, tailored advice to our customers and demonstrate the breadth and depth of services available, so we gave Blu the ability to break reality and time – a la Mary Poppins – and a magical glowing portal for a direct line to our many products ​and services. ​

Every Blu interaction begins with a small business owner recognizing a challenge and actively seeking Blu’s support. When they say, “Hey Blu?” out loud, Blu arrives as an on-demand source of support. Blu’s portals make the impossible feel effortless, always in service of solving a small business owner’s problem, and multiple portals can work together like a coordinated support system, making Blu feel everywhere all at once. Thus, the portal is a visual metaphor and device that represents Blu’s direct connection to The UPS Store products and services, serving as both a portal to enter an SBO’s space and a window to The UPS Store products and services.

Blu allows our customers to access the help they need at the moment they need it, ready to guide, support, and elevate small businesses at every turn. ​

There aren’t many brand characters in the world of small business and entrepreneurship. Why do you think this is? How do you think The UPS Store will benefit positively from having a character like Blu?

It can be hard for brands to make an emotional connection with business services – and no one excels at the level of customer service like The UPS Store or can credibly pull off a character like Blu the way The UPS Store can! Backing up this claim is the fact that The UPS Store achieved the number one ranking for the past three years on the Forbes Best Customer Service list.

Our data reveals SBOs are primarily driven by reliability, convenience and cost. In times of economic uncertainty, demonstrating value beyond cost becomes more important than ever. Blu will help The UPS Store demonstrate our convenience value, customer service value, expertise value and more, and show entrepreneurs why local expertise and genuine support matters.

With now more than 5,600 The UPS Store locations nationwide, Blu is a fun and motivating reminder that there’s a “Blu” near you with everything you need to boost your small business.

Can you share more about the campaign and what consumers can expect throughout the rest of the year?

Blu is part of an integrated, multi-year national campaign spanning broadcast television, digital, social and print channels.

Beginning this month across the Paramount ecosystem, Blu is featured alongside professional football player Aidan Hutchinson in new spots created by Paramount Media Labs, Paramount Advertising’s full-service branded content studio. As a professional athlete, philanthropist and a new small business owner after launching his golf brand 4th and Fore, Hutchinson understands firsthand the value of reliable support and strong partnerships.

The Blu and Aidan integration will span CBS and Paramount streaming, with additional digital and social content rolling out through early November 2026.

Image Credits: The UPS Store

About the Author

Heather Taylor is the senior writer and editor-in-chief of PopIcon, Advertising Week’s blog about brand mascots. Got a pitch on brand mascots or want to wax nostalgic about characters? Drop her a line at howveryheather@gmail.com.