Give The Dog A Bone

Background

Hertz now have a service allowing customers to bring dogs along when driving their hire cars.

Idea

All kinds of people have dogs and the challenge was how to reach this specific, but diverse group.

The insight was not to target owners but the dogs themselves.

Hertz-branded bones were created and, with smells that would appeal to canine noses, were hidden under bushes and behind lamp-posts for dogs to find. Attached to each bone was a tag with information about the new Hertz service, a link to the website and a phone number to book a car.

Results

All cars with dog cages were immediately booked. Even after the campaign period, these cars remained fully booked for months ahead.

Our Thoughts

Let’s talk money for a moment. Imagine you are Hertz and in response to your customers’ suggestions you decide to make dog-friendly cars available for rental. To promote this in the national press, even small spaces, would not be cheap. To use TV would be even more expensive. But it is an important message to get out there because it says just as clearly to non-dog owners that Hertz is imaginative, customer-centric and innovative.

In doing something so left-field, Hertz would have got dog-owners sharing the news with each other as well while PR got the message out to everyone else. All for a fraction of the cost of a traditional campaign. Makes you think, doesn’t it?