DHL Disowns Viral Marketing Prank

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By Brian Koerber2014-02-21 22:37:15 UTC

A marketing campaign for the delivery service DHL went viral Thursday. The clip shows DHL tricking similar companies, such as UPS, into advertising for them. Now it seems DHL was not behind the stunt.

A representative for DHL told Mashable in an email: "This video was not something that was initiated by DHL. The video was created by an external agency for their own internal competition. We were aware in advance of the intention to use it for this purpose. We were not aware of any plans to share it externally."

The stunt shows a DHL ad printed on temperature-sensitive foil. When the packages are cooled, the ad is invisible, but once their temperature rises, the message was clear.

Competitors supposedly picked up a large black package for delivery, which after reaching a certain temperature, revealed a yellow box with the words, "DHL is Faster."

The video was originally uploaded by YouTube user JvMNeckar, which a quick Google search reveals a German marketing company Jung von Matt / Neckar that strongly values the power of social media. Reps from the agency were not available for immediate comment.