It’s a delight to be here.

In the spirit of full disclosure, let me just say that the title of my presentation – “Managing the Brand in an Age of Anti-Americanism” – might imply that I’m here today to tell you how to manage your global brand in these turbulent times.

That’s not the case.

UPS shares its hometown with some of the world’s most respected and powerful brands.

If anything, we could learn quite a bit from you.

So, I’m not here under the pretense of knowing all the answers.

Rather, I’d like to think of this more in terms of benchmarking.

You’re going to hear some ideas from me, but I also want to hear from you folks.

So, I look forward to a healthy question and answer session today.

What I really want to accomplish in the next few minutes is raise awareness about the troubling perceptions of American brands abroad.

Collectively we are painted with a broad stroke overseas and the portrait at the moment is cause for some deep concern.

I also want to share some of the lessons we’ve learned in managing our brand internationally at UPS, not just since the advent of the Iraq war but over the course of the last three decades.

Our brand is not immune from the anti-American backlash, but because of some actions – and course corrections – we’ve taken over the years, we’ve been able to navigate the current environment with no dire impact to our business or reputation.

Maybe it’s best if I start with a quick snapshot of our international scale and scope.

UPS has been operating internationally since 1976 when we first ventured into Germany and Canada.

Since then we’ve expanded service to more than 200 countries and territories.

On any given day, we deliver more than 13 million packages – roughly 7 percent of the U.S. GDP and 2 percent of the world’s GDP.

The vast majority of those international packages travel via the world’s 11th largest airline, and are delivered through a network that includes 40,000 non-U.S. based employees.

Last year our international revenues exceeded US$5.5 billion dollars, or about 17 percent of our total US$33.5 billion.

This year we’re on track to eclipse US$6 billion in international revenues.

Our international business is clearly our growth star and has been now for the past few years.

But we don’t take it for granted.

We continue to make huge investments globally, and we are concerned about anti-American sentiment.

Part of that investment is our branding investment.

Advertising, public affairs, public relations, customer communications, web communications, signage, people and a retail presence through 1,100 Mail Box Etc.® stores outside the U.S. give us wide swath of branding assets to work with globally.

A major risk entailed in the current wave of anti-American feeling is on the progress of globalization – an economic movement that is very important to our future business and to most American businesses.

We know that, increasingly, the line is blurred between ‘Globalization’ and ‘Americanization.’

We suspect for many people the terms are synonymous.

For some, ‘globalization’ is an American led phenomenon designed to benefit the U.S.

American heritage multi-nationals such as Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Ford, Nike, Microsoft, UPS and others are widely seen as the symbols and promoters of globalization.

I recently had an interesting conversation about globalization with Thomas Friedman, the Foreign Affairs columnist of The New York Times.

I’m sure many of you read The Lexus and the Olive Tree.

If not I highly recommend it to you.

He’s working on a new book project and he came to UPS a few weeks ago because he was intrigued by our vision of synchronized global commerce and how we are enabling companies large and small to participate in the international marketplace.

Friedman made an interesting point in distinguishing between what people want and do not want from Americans.

He said young people, for instance, want American education and technology more than ever.

But fewer and fewer want to wear our T-shirts anymore and be identified as ‘pro-American.’

On this point, Paul Bracken, a Professor at Yale School of Management, offers the following advice: “Multi-national companies need to invest in reversing this trend. It is essential to their long term growth. Unless a change can be achieved in attitudes towards America, the progress of globalization will, at best, be impeded. At worst, there will be a retreat.”

I think it’s important to recognize that the roots of this growing anti-Americanism do not rest solely with the military actions taken in Iraq.

Many in the world have also been upset for quite some time over what they perceive as an invasion of American culture and values as well as these other policy decisions.

And as you can see here, the trend is not limited to Western Europe and the Middle East.

We’ve seen a significant slide in American favorability around the world, and in a short time frame.

Just to show you how wide the gulf is between America and Europe, however, here’s an illustration of trust levels among some of the world’s leading global brands.

Across the board, American brands are suffering, including UPS.

Notice also the difference among Americans and Europeans when it comes to trust placed in Non-Governmental Organizations.

Europeans place more credibility with NGO’s than do Americans.

For those of us charged with managing brand and reputation, we need to be aware of these differences and sensitive to the fact that Europeans generally lean more towards progressive social and environmental issues than do Americans.

Loss of brand equity is not the only legacy of hostility towards America.

At UPS, we’re also keeping a close eye on some of these other issues.

For instance, in terms of regulation, government approvals may be less available.

This could be true at a local, national and supra-national levels.

When it comes to recruitment, potential employees might select rival non-American employers.

This can be potentially serious in cases of senior level management and top level graduates.

Morale problems are another issue.

Existing employees of American-based companies, well aware of its US roots, are vulnerable to questioning by anti-American friends and family.

Of course, terrorism and sabotage.

At the extreme end of the spectrum, the hostile climate creates conditions for targeted acts of terrorism against American economic icons.

What can we do to protect, enhance our brands?

This question is really a dialogue starter.

As marketers, communicators, brand managers and reputation gatekeepers of multinational companies, we would do well to start raising this question and seeking input, if we’re not doing it already.

At UPS, we’ve learned three valuable business lessons that we think have had a positive impact on our brand internationally.

We’ve learned that long-term commitments build brand equity and are rewarded.

We’ve learned to think local but act global, a bit of a twist on the traditional thinking.

And we’ve learned that if you’re perceived as an extractor as opposed to an integrator, you’re in trouble.

Some of these lessons are the result of business strategy decisions and not necessarily day-to-day brand management initiatives.

That said, however, we believe brand management needs to be at the table and involved when strategic business decisions are being made.

That is the case at UPS and I would hope at your company as well.

Let's start with thinking long-term and let me preface this with our long-term view of the world at UPS.

We see several big picture trends that promise to shape the world of business in the coming years.

One is that the world's population is growing and fast.

People are living longer due to improved health care.

The world's population is increasing by 60 million every year.

And many people – especially young people – are moving to urban centers – particularly in developing regions of the world.

By 2010, more than half the world will be concentrated in urban areas, up from 38 percent today.

And by 2015, only one American city – New York – is expected to rank among the 10 largest urban areas.

With a population of more than 17 million, the Big Apple will pale compared to the 26 million living in Tokyo and Bombay, the 23 million in Lagos and the 20 million in Karachi, Sao Paulo, and Mexico City.

That also speaks to the trend that by 2025, 85 percent of the world's population will live in developing countries up from about 80 percent today.

Jobs will shift to these areas where labor costs are lower.

And jobs will shift because technology makes it possible to perform work from anywhere.

This will create a rising consumer class around the globe.

We've already seen how manufacturing operations have migrated to China where labor costs are low.

We'll likely soon see a similar trend from Western to Eastern Europe.

All of these trends, we believe, can bode well for UPS and other American businesses that take a long-term view of the world.

I mentioned a few moments ago that we first entered Europe through Germany back in 1976 – the beginning of our international expansion.

We knew we had a long row to hoe in terms of building an international network that would generate a profitable return.

In fact, our first international profits didn’t show up until 1998.

In Europe, we saw as far back as the mid 80s the inevitability of a single economic union.

We focused our first international efforts there and made 16 acquisitions to establish our brand.

In fact, we built Europe’s largest pan-continental delivery network.

We could offer consistent services within and across national borders – all supported by common systems.

By 1996, the concept of shipping across a continent – even the world – had for the first time in Europe become as easy as shipping across town.

So, taking the long-term view has enabled us to become part of the commercial infrastructure of Europe.

It's been the catalyst for creating over 26,000 jobs for Europeans.

We've taken a similar approach in Asia.

Our strategy was to build out our Asian network through phases, each new one building strategically on the last.

The goal was to create a flexible, nimble business that could adapt to changing business and economic conditions.

After doing business in Asia for 16 years, UPS Asia has become a significant contributor to our total global revenues.

One of the biggest factors in that success was our willingness to give up some control in order to gain greater flexibility and local knowledge.

We shaped our operations around a combination of wholly owned subsidiaries, joint ventures, partnerships, and strategic alliances – all involving local companies.

This approach has served us particularly well in large, complex economies like China and India.

Three years ago we began direct service flights to Beijing and Shanghai.

Working with Sinotrans of China and Jetair Limited in India, we've been able to methodically introduce services that meet market demand and provide businesses with services that meet these unique market needs.

This has helped us minimize risk.

And it's proved to be a key factor in helping us ride out volatile economic swings in the region.

It allows us to manage our operations in the most flexible way possible.

And it allows us to be a stable economic development contributor.

That leads me to my second point of discussion: think local but act global.

We’re all familiar with the adage, think global but act local.

Our experiences today give that phrase a new twist.

Despite what the anti-globalists try to protest, what we’re seeing among our business customers in markets from Santiago to Shanghai is the need to be connected to the global economy.

Current issues aside, for those of us on the B2B side, our jobs as global brand managers should become easier in the coming years as more and more businesses identify with the global economy and share similar challenges and needs.

There’s no greater illustration of that today than China.

Look at all of the businesses from all of the various countries lining up at China’s door to do business.

That said, it would be foolhardy to assume that a global economy is going to create a homogenous global culture and community.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Being local matters more than ever, too.

Earlier I mentioned our 40,000 International employees.

Of that number, how many would you think would be U.S. ex-pats?

The answer is fewer than 40.

That’s less than one-tenth of one percent.

We've learned that everyone wins when we put international business operations into the hands of the people who best know their local cultures.

I wish I could tell you that we've always understood that.

We've learned some lessons the hard way over years of trial and error.

During the build-up of our business in Europe, we were challenged with integrating 16 acquired companies.

The integration of those acquired companies into our organization was the biggest stumbling block to our international expansion in the late 1980s.

Unfortunately, our first impulse then was to behave more like commandos instead of teachers, partners, and consultants.

Our attitude was often, “you stand over there and watch how we do this, then do it exactly the same way.”

In short, it was, “the UPS Way or No Way.”

Well, that didn't work.

And our business suffered.

Things only got better when we found the right blend of UPS culture and capabilities and local knowledge.

We knew we had acquired valuable operations in valuable markets.

Our job should be, make it better, not make it over.

When we focused our coaching into areas where significant improvement was needed and left the rest alone, things improved.

We learned that local employees lend more credibility to the local customer base because they understand the culture, language, legal system and business practices.

We learned that acquired companies must assimilate at their own pace.

When in Rome, do what the Romans do.

That also means being flexible when it comes to cultural traditions.

Brand and culture must be aligned.

We think it’s important to be flexible on some cultural traditions in order to create a climate of success for our people.

For example, spiritual symbols are very important in Thailand.

There, UPS displays Buddhist shrines in its facilities.

Our drivers feel that protects them while they deliver packages.

Similarly, we allow displays of the Blessed Mother in Argentina, Mexico and Brazil.

Of course, there are situations in which you can't adapt to local custom like when we're asked to compromise on our values.

We’ve had to tell our drivers in France that a glass of wine over lunch just isn’t the way we do business.

Likewise we had to tell the Germans that a beer wasn’t going to cut it, either.

We've been faced with a few situations when payoffs to government officials are a normal cultural business practice.

But that's not the UPS way.

Although it may have slowed our progress in some areas, we’ve held firm in our beliefs and taken great pains to communicate UPS values throughout the global enterprise.

Our Code of Business Conduct is translated into 29 languages and distributed to managers around the world.

Our policies and principles are the subject of recurring training programs.

They're reiterated in a variety of media including Intranet sites and videotaped addresses by our senior executives.

I’ve talked a bit about internal issues here because in our business our employees are the brand ambassadors.

To most customers, including many in this room, they are the face of the brand.

They interact with customers every day.

And we’ve learned over the course of our 97 years that motivated, happy and productive employees equal satisfied customers.

Our people are also a critical reason why we’ve been cited by FORTUNE magazine as the world’s most admired global transportation brand now for the past 6 years.

We recently survey customers in Europe, Asia and Canada to gain better insight into how they perceived our brand.

Most of the attributes they cited were human attributes.

Words like “decent and true highly trained code of service and servitude respect, honor and service.”

Another vital aspect of acting local is being perceived as an integrator as opposed to an extractor.

The third lesson we’ve learned.

Before I talk about being an integrator, let me say a word about extractors.

In the “extraction” model, companies might enter a community, demand extravagant incentives from local government, grab what resources they want and turn tail if things go bad.

It happens all too frequently.

Likewise, in this model, economic developers might pursue companies in a quest of “growth for growth’s sake.”

Generous incentives might be offered as communities tried to be all things to all companies.

Conversely, the integration approach is a two-way street.

Integration means companies and communities align values and make meaningful contributions to create sustainable enterprises and communities.

How so?

A UPS example is the way we developed our Asia air hub that opened two years ago in the Philippines.

The Asia air hub has become a vital part of our Around the World network.

It links our Asia operations to our Europe hub in Cologne, Germany, and our U.S. hub in Louisville.

Just like our air hubs in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, the Philippines hub is managed and operated by Asians, and is a major employer and economic catalyst.

In fact, the economic impact of the Philippines air hub has done nothing less than turn around the nation's credit rating, according to Philippines' President Gloria Arroyo.

She said the UPS air hub had taken the Philippines from a negative to a positive credit rating with the world banking community.

At UPS, we like to think we are part of the fundamental fabric of commerce for a community.

Clearly, the world's most powerful financial development institutions also agree.

In the Philippines and elsewhere, corporate citizenship is another major component of responsible development.

UPS has a global Community Investment Grant program supplemented by our UPS Foundation.

Through a series of community grants, we perform hands-on efforts in localities around the world.

Next month, we will launch our second Global Philanthropy Day.

Last thousands of employees from over 14 select countries outside the U.S. participated in variety of volunteer activities.

Several of our senior executives helped build schools and computer labs in small rural communities in China.

We've built similar school and computer learning facilities in other Asian and Latin American countries.

We also pay close attention to the environment in communities where we operate.

UPS is in the forefront of environmental responsibility with recycled shipping materials the quietest aircraft fleet and a variety of alternative fuel vehicles.

Perhaps the greatest asset we can bring to a community, however, is economic opportunity.

We’re obviously in somewhat of a unique position at UPS because of the nature of our business.

In most markets we’re seen as part of the infrastructure of commerce as much as any road, bridge, harbor or airport.

We help communities and businesses connect to commerce so there is an inherently positive brand halo that goes with that activity.

And that’s why the concept of “enabling global commerce” has become a centerpiece of our branding strategy.

I guess it’s only fitting as I wrap up here today to mention that our global branding strategy really came into full fruition during our sponsorship of the Atlanta Olympic Games and the subsequent Japan and Australia games.

And on that point, I think we all saw again last month in Athens that – despite the geopolitical turmoil of the day – the world can come together in meaningful and harmonious way.

As brand managers and marketers we’re part of the corporate diplomatic community.

In the 21st century, corporate diplomacy is becoming as important as political diplomacy.

Our actions and our beliefs are not only shaping the perceptions of our companies abroad but they are forming impressions about our nation and the ideals for which it stands.

It’s a huge responsibility – one we must manage with care and diligence.

I wish you all the best of luck in your endeavors and would love to hear what’s on your mind.