Have you ever noticed how different brands differentiate themselves from one another? Whether it is banks, ride-sharing platforms, powder detergents, or other products or services; they all claim to be the best. It never actually involves brands differentiating themselves from their competitors. Although they may not always use the word best, that is exactly what they all mean when they clutter their marketing communication with terms like disruptive, high-quality, cutting-edge, and other business jargon and buzzwords that make potential customers think they’re being duped. Why do you think companies always tend to exaggerate themselves and their qualities in advertisements? Have you ever thought you would come across an ad for a company that did not claim superiority but rather inferiority?
In 1962, there were few options available for renting a car in America. Hertz and Avis were the two main competitors in the burgeoning rental automobile market. Hertz was the industry’s unchallenged champion at the time, controlling an enormous portion of the market. Hertz was aware of it. Avis was aware of it. Anyone who has ever leased a car at that time was aware of this. When Avis initially entered the market in the middle of the 1940s, it began a rivalry between Hertz and Avis. When Air Force officer Warren Avis noticed an underserved market segment in the rental automobile industry while traveling across the nation and abroad, his brilliant idea was to park the automobiles inside airports. The majority of rental lots at the time, including Hertz’s, were found in downtown areas. Avis believed he could serve the increasing number of business travelers who wanted to arrive by plane, drive to several meetings, and depart the same day. But Hertz would quickly copy the tactics that Avis had pioneered and would not relinquish its first-place position in the market.
When you rank second in your niche market, will you ever brag about it? Of course you won’t. Since we were young children, everyone has taught us to be number 1 and excel at whatever we do or intend to achieve. Nobody enjoys taking second place and bragging about it. During that period, when the economy was booming after World War II, no dignified business would ever assert that it was inadequate much less No. 2 in a race that appeared to be up between two competitors. It was preferable to exaggerate and inflate the caliber of your services than to concede a loss. Which consumer, after all, would choose a business that came in second rather than first? Because of this, Avis marketed the way most brands do when they’re the clear second, they pretended they were first.
With deceptive marketing efforts that boldly claimed to be the “Finest in rent-a-cars,” they were losing money and stagnating for thirteen years in a row. They really did use that as a slogan once. With only an 11% market share and no profit in 13 years, Avis was in terrible shape. Avis tasked eccentric businessman Robert Townsend with bringing the firm around and installed him as CEO. One of the first things Townsend did was to call Bill Bernbach at Doyle Dane Bernbach and plead: “How do we get five dollars’ worth of impact for every dollar we spend?” Bernbach responded by demanding that they be given ninety days to learn about the business, that Avis run all of the ads without making any changes, and that they refrain from running any ads until they had improved their real service. After Bernbach assigned writer Paula Green and art director Helmut Krone to the project, the group started learning everything they could about Avis and its people. They came up with a concept that was revolutionary in the advertising industry.
Like any great advertising, the answer developed by Krone, Green, and Bernbach was solidly grounded in truth and combined elements of strategy and creativity. “Avis is only No.2 in rent a cars. So we try harder”. Their conversations with the Avis personnel gave rise to an extremely simple notion. The wording was powerful, and the idea was honest. And that made sense. In order to attract clients, Avis needed to outperform Hertz in every way. This felt more like a sincere communication from a business to a customer than a gimmick. Amazingly, it also succeeded in portraying the large, dominant market leader as sloppy and complacent at the same time. Avis was addressing a basic reality when it acknowledged the obvious: “You have to work harder when your company isn’t the largest in car rentals.” For the customer, this translated directly into ‘Avis will do anything to make sure you’re happy with your service.’
The campaign’s striking aesthetic was developed by Krone, who was previously in charge of the Volkswagen campaign’s design, and it was built around big headlines and copy, and small images. The advertisements were distinctly Avis, although lacking a logo. The fact that the advertisements focused only on Avis and their message from beginning to end contributed to their excellent branding. There was no pretense of creativity or wit. Excellent communication only. The Simple editorial pages by Krone were compelling to read.
Strong, honest advertising, a witty, self-effacing tone of voice, and a straightforward, effective art direction were the campaign’s main components.
At last, Avis turned a profit in its first year of operation. For the first time in over ten years, Avis turned a profit, going from losing $3.2 million to making $1.2 million in less than a year. Following the debut of the “We Try Harder” campaign, the DDB team and Avis conducted research to gauge public opinion. Of course, half of them thought the idea was ridiculous.
Nonetheless, DDB’s Creative Director Bill Bernbach concentrated on the remaining 50% of those who approved of the idea and chose to carry out the campaign. The company’s earnings increased by 150% in the next year. It doubled once more in the third year. Hertz used to hold a sizable portion of the market share, but Avis began to gradually overtake them. Between 1963 and 1966, the market-share percentage difference between the two brands decreased from 61–29 to 49–36 due to Hertz’s disregard for the Avis campaign.
In a world where everyone strives to be number one, Avis took a different approach. Facing the reality of being second-best, they embraced it with their ‘We Try Harder’ campaign. Instead of hiding their position, they boldly proclaimed their commitment to excellence, winning over customers with honesty and dedication. This revolutionary strategy transformed Avis from a struggling company to a thriving success story, proving that sometimes, it pays to try harder.