The greatest print ad campaign ever made...

I have always been a huge fan of the underdog and utilising that mindset in marketing tactics or campaigns. It’s something that whilst at Kapten during my time as Marketing Director I tried to play on as often as possible. Directly playing on your competitors' brand awareness can help elevate your own, whilst also giving you strong category cues for new consumers who may not be aware of who you are, or what you offer.

In my opinion, one of the finest and oldest examples of this type of campaign is the Hertz vs Avis print campaign in the ’60s. Ever since Avis was launched in 1946 it was trailing behind the market leader Hertz. They needed a bold new campaign to capture the attention of the target market. 

Consumers aren’t stupid (honestly). They know that Pepsi isn’t as big as Coca Cola, Burger King isn’t as big as McDonald’s, Kapten isn’t as big Uber and that Avis isn’t as big as Hertz. They took this brand truth and turned it around into a positive value proposition for a potential customer, and thus “We Try Harder” was born. 

Strategic Overview

Taking the proposition of being the little fish and the tagline of  “When you're not the biggest in rent a car, you have to try harder, We Do We’re only no.2” and the positioning of the underdog was born.

They played on the biggest pain points that the consumer could potentially experience when renting vehicles, such as bad customer service, slow turnaround times when picking up keys and dirty vehicles/ashtrays not being cleaned out. All of these points were highly relatable to the car rental category, and the value proposition of being the small guy, being the underdog and always trying harder had huge cut through. 

Creative Examples

The “We Try Harder” ads were an instant hit. Within a year, Avis went from losing $3.2 million to earning $1.2 million—the first time it had been profitable in more than a decade. From 1963 to 1966, as Hertz ignored the Avis campaign, the market-share percentage gap between the two brands shrunk from 61–29 to 49–36. Terrified Hertz executives projected that by 1968 Avis might need a new ad campaign—because it would no longer be No. 2.

Finally, in 1966, Hertz blinked and acknowledged that they had a worthy rival by coming out with their own print series.

Hertz creative response

“For years, Avis has been telling you Hertz is No. 1,” read the copy on the first response ad. “Now we’re going to tell you why.”

Further adverts and creative responses followed. “No. 2 says he tries harder. Than who?” And “Hertz has a competitor who says he’s only No. 2. That’s hard to argue with.” The ads almost immediately stopped the bleeding. Hertz’s “We’re No. 1” slogan, accompanied by a raised index finger, soon infiltrated larger culture, and was even seen being used at sporting events by fans.

It would have been great for Avis to usurp Hertz as the no.1 player in the market, however, they will have to settle for the accolade of making one of my favourite advertising campaigns of all time, which is just as valuable.