hsr/ny Mixes Avis Campaign for McCann-Erickson - Avis-com

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To promote Avis Rent-A-Car’s “free weekend to use later” when you rent for a week, hsr/ny’s Steve Rosen mixed a trio of subtly comic :30s with :15 lifts, Walnut, Whale, and Geyser, created by McCann-Erickson (New York, NY) for AVIS. The campaign rolled out nationally on March 2.


(PRWEB) March 24, 2005 -- To promote Avis Rent-A-Car’s “free weekend to use later” when you rent for a week, hsr/ny’s Steve Rosen mixed a trio of subtly comic :30s with :15 lifts, Walnut, Whale, and Geyser, created by McCann-Erickson (New York, NY) for AVIS. The campaign rolled out nationally on March 2.

In each of the spots a duo is enjoying their “go anywhere with your free weekend” on AVIS. In one instance, a couple travels to see a 15 foot tall Walnut erected in 1963, which, after his wife provides the stats on this “landmark,” leaves her husband less than thrilled as he opts to “wait in the car”; A second couple go Whale watching; and a father and son enjoy an erupting Geyser.

For the AVIS campaign, Rosen completed the audio post utilizing Soundtracs DPC-II digital console and Digidesign Pro Tools.

The McCann agency team included Creative Director Steve Ohler, Executive Producer/Producer Pat Zadok, Copywriter Natalie Carbone and Art Director Armand Prisco.
The spots were directed by the Perlorian Brothers of Biscuit (Los Angeles, CA) and Executive Producer Shawn Lacy Tessaro and Producer Scott Craig.

The offline editorial assignment was completed at Mad River Post/NY (New York, NY) by Editor Jason McDonald assisted by Craig Deardorff.

Visual effects were created at Brand New School (New York, NY) by Effects Artist Josh Libitsky.
The online was handled by Editor Russ Bigsby at Nice Shoes (New York, NY).

The musical tag was created by Pulse Music (New York, NY) and Composer Jason Lifton and Producer Dan Kuby.

hsr/ny, one of the nation’s pre-eminent audio facilities serving feature film, advertising, television, and radio, is headquartered at 420 Lexington Avenue, Suite 1934, New York, NY 10170; (212) 687-4180; (212) 697-0536.

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Start A Major Car Rental Company - Accidentally - Avis.com

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My good friend Dick [first names only] had a great eye for opportunity and he convinced me to join him at a car rental company where he was General Manager. He assured me that the company was in it’s last throes and there was an excellent chance that we could negotiate for the assets if it went into bankruptcy.

That’s exactly what happened and on July 1, 1967 we were owners of Capital Rent A Car, Inc. 1st National Bank of Fort Lauderdale handed us the 88 cars they held title to plus $20,000 initial working capital and a two month moratorium on the payment of the cars. Of course the cars were not worth anywhere near the money owed on them and we didn’t have two dimes to rub together. But with no other opportunity we jumped in.

During the next seven years we only were able to make cash decisions, never a business decision. Problem was we were always short on the cash side. We grew because we were aggressive and innovative but always cash short. To stay alive during the next seven years we asked for and received moratoriums and we kited checks which we always made good.

We were doing business with major lenders, GMAC, Ford Motor Credit, Chrysler and about 4 or 5 local banks. They were all cooperative recognizing that we were two nice stupid boys who were sincere but unfortunately inept. However there was one company that we did not fool around with. That was Harry who had a small local car leasing business. We figured that all of our lenders were in business to lend money. Not Harry, he was in business to make a living. Although Harry did have a major, 75 or 80%, well healed partner Harry always got paid on time and without knowing it that paid dividends.

1973 came and brought Arab/Israeli the Yom Kippur war plus higher gasoline prices and a gasoline embargo the following spring. Our business model was to offer the right size car which translated means no sub compacts and heavy on the mid-size and full-size cars. Consequently after the 73-74 winter season we could not dispose of unnecessary inventory. With higher gas prices and gas shortages car wholesalers wanted to buy fuel efficient sub-compacts and maybe a few compacts. Mid-size and full-size cars were in essence, sales proof. What was offered for the larger cars was not sufficient to pay off the loans and obtain the titles. And we didn’t have the cash to buy the titles so we ended up looking at unnecessary cars.

In May surrounded by this rusting fleet we thought about the future, mainly August 20th. In Florida, back in 1974, all rental cars had to have the next year’s tags purchased by that date. We were looking at $20,000 and that was all we could do is look. With bankruptcy staring us in the face we were thinking about our alternatives.

That’s when Harry came to mind. He said he always wanted to be in the daily car rental business. Leasing cars was fine but we were in the exciting part of the business. He didn’t say it once, he must of said it a dozen times. Well, we could help him.

Fortunately Harry never knew of our financial difficulties and that we had more cars than we could rent. So it was not unusual for us to lease 400 Dodge Darts delivered in June for our summer season. In July after the cars were delivered we gave Harry the news. We didn’t have the cash to license the cars and our only alternative was filing bankruptcy. As expected Harry, an Hungarian immigrant with a temper, exploded. We reminded him that he always wanted to be in the car rental business. He needed to speak to his majority partner. Our building leases could be negotiated, the utilities would have to be paid and Southern Bell would let him keep the phone numbers if their bills were paid. And Dick and I would be happy to work for the new corporation and provide our expertise [?].

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And that is exactly what happened. Dick and I filed for corporate and personal bankruptcy. The new company opened their doors on September 1, 1974 in our five locations, Miami, Ft Lauderdale, Orlando, Tampa and West Palm. John had his accountant act as president until Mike was hired as president in 1976. Mike had rights of first refusal should John ever want to sell the company.

The name of Harry’s leasing company was Alamo Leasing. Logically the name of the car rental company became Alamo Rent A Car, a major car rental company. But that is not the rest of the story. Every thing worked out well, very well for the players.

To finish the story you should know that the majority partner John, was John D. MacArthur of John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Trust Foundation.

John passed away in the fall of 1977 and Mike with a group of 8 other people bought the business from the Trustees in 1978. Don’t know the price but I am sure the trustees did not say, “we’ll take a write-off.” Mike eventually, to my knowledge, was the remaining stockholder and sold the company for a substantial sum, hundreds of millions, during the late 90s.

Harry received about $250,000 for his 20 or 25% share of the company. Can you believe he started a car rental company about 1992 and named it Capital Rent A Car. When I questioned the wisdom of that he said that the name was unlucky for me but lucky for him. I am not so sure, he died a few years later before Capital moved to the next level.

As for me, when people asked what did I do when I went bankrupt, I told them that I stopped scratching.

http://www.allvacation.info

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Hal_Jacobs


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Car Rentals and Unlimited Free Mileage, Its Evolution - Avis-com

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From the beginning of time car rentals were only available on a per day, per week, per mile basis. You rented a car and paid for the time used and the miles driven. However it was only a question of time and circumstances before car rentals would be offered with free mileage.

In 1967 my partner and I took over a bankrupt car rental company and had three rental stations, Miami, 5th Street on South Beach and the third in Ft. Lauderdale. At the time Yellow Rent A Car, owned by Yellow Cab of Miami, with rental stations in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale was offering a sub-compact car with unlimited free mileage at $45 a week. They were the first and only car rental company with free mileage but with a one week minimum rental requirement.

I can not tell you what year they first offered free mileage but I can guess why. They were only in South Florida, they were only dealing with the leisure market and Disney World 200 miles north was not open. Renters did not use a lot of miles. The competitive rate for a sub-compact car back in the 1960s was $5 per day, $25 per week [5 times the daily rental] and 5 cents per mile. With a one week minimum rental at $25 and with their weekly rate of $45 they would have the difference, or $20, to cover the cost of the miles. At 5 cents a mile the client could use up to 400 miles for the week and the rental would be a wash. I found out later that this was a winner for Yellow Rent A Car.

To my knowledge Yellow Rent A Car was the granddaddy of free mileage. Their caveat was a one week minimum. My partner and I, owners of Capital Rent A Car took it one step further. We were the first to offer unlimited free mileage one day or more. One week minimum rental did not apply. It couldn’t get any better than that and I will tell you how it evolved.

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Our business was generated by advertising in local tourist magazines. We also paid a commission for referrals from hotel and motel owners, hotel doorman and cab drivers. We were just like the other 20 to 30 local car rental companies that we competed with. We needed an edge and the idea of some sort of free mileage program intrigued both of us.

Our business was with tourists and their average rental was 6 or 7 days. Looking at our completed rental agreements the average amount of miles driven in a week was about 250. If we offered a daily rate with some free miles would that fly? We thought so and we could have offered 50 free miles and that would have covered the average renter’s mileage needs. But the rate that we eventually settled on permitted us to offer more miles. More than what the average renter would use and would be perceived as a genuine bargain. The original free mileage offer included in the daily rate was 75 miles.

We were phasing out our Volkswagens, a sub-compact car, with a rate of $4 per day, 4 cents per mile. Our compact car, a Dodge Dart which would become our lead car, had a rate of $6 per day, $30 per week and 6 cents per mile. We arrived at a daily rate of $8.50 which included 75 free miles. Typically the weekly rate was 5 times the daily rate and in this example 5 times $6 the daily rate equaled $30 plus of course the mileage. With the free miles we decided that we would not offer a weekly rate. The renter paid by the day regardless if the rental was one day, 7 days or whatever.

Our business took off and why wouldn’t it. We were advertising in the local tourist magazines “free mileage.” At $8.50 per day it was a bargain and I can only guess the thoughts that our callers had. The extra $2.50 per day over the $6 per day rental charge was a bargain. They got 75 free miles so they wouldn’t have to worry about a mileage charge. Or possibly they thought $8.50 a day is cheaper than $49 a week, the recently increased rate from Yellow. Within 6 months we realized that no one drove anywhere near the break even mileage figure. So we did the next best thing. We offered unlimited free mileage. The year was 1969.

Soon thereafter we became aware of CATM. CATM is an acronym for Consolidated Air Tour Manual. A publication put together by the airlines serving Florida. It was a compilation of rates from hotels, car rental companies, attractions and other tourist support companies including tour operators. Tour operators offered “packages” which included air fare, hotel and other services such as car rentals. The theory was that if a client purchased each component of the package separately the cost would exceed the operator’s package price. By being in CATM airlines and travel agents could reserve our cars directly or through tour operators.

So we are in CATM and find ourselves competing with the big boys, Hertz, Avis and National. Not so big at the time but impressive, were Budget, Olins, maybe American International and Dollar A Day which became Dollar Rent A Car. Our $8.50 a day and a weekly rate of $59 a week [we rounded the rate out] stood by itself. Not one other car rental company offered free mileage and used the per day, per week, per mile rate schedule. Two or three years later Avis was the next car rental company to offer unlimited free mileage but with a three day minimum.

We first published in CATM in 1970 and I mention this because I previously stated that we, Capital Rent A Car, was the first to offer unlimited free mileage one day or more. To substantiate this claim I must mention that in 1942 I was in my seventh grade Shop class and the teacher claimed that he invented the airplane before the Wright brothers. I am not kidding you and maybe he did. But if he did he didn’t tell anyone so Wilbur and Orville got the credit.

Maybe we weren’t the first with unlimited free miles and maybe someone in Okemos. MI or Rockford, IL did. But if they did they didn’t tell anyone. We did by being in a national publication, CATM. So we are going to take the credit for being the first. The next time you rent a car and don’t pay for mileage you can thank us.

For those out there who wish to contest our claim please contact me at my email address below, You can also read another one of my Ezine Articles, “Start A Major Car Rental Company”, dealing with the car rental business at the resource below.

http://www.allvacation.info
haljacobs@msn.com
http://ezinearticles.com/?id=697564

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Hal_Jacobs


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Mobile Car Wash Business Customers and Fleet Clientele Discussed

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If you own a mobile car wash business, no doubt you have tapped into the washing of vehicles that office complexes. But have you considered washing fleets of vehicles? For instance have you consider washing for large Rent-A-Car corporations? If you haven't and you wish to expand your customer base and fleet clientele it would be wise to do so.

Now then, let's discuss a large corporation that handles Rent-A-Cars and study their history. It is important to study their history of large companies before you go in and make the sales call because you will want to have the power of information behind you. Let's take a look at doing business with Avis Rent-A-Car. You see, Avis Rent-A-Car has been around since 1946 started by Warren Avis.

Avis had been bought and sold and spun off a half a dozen times but always keeping the brand name out where travelers could remember it. It was sold in 1954 to a wealthy Bostonian who kept building it up and then he sold it to an investment banking firm in 1962 who made up the slogan ‘We try harder’, a technique still taught in business schools across the country.

In 1965 the investment firm sold it to ITT for 54 million and they in turn sold it in 1977 to Norton Simon, who was bought in 1983 by Esmark after Norton Simon signed a marketing agreement to buy and rent only GM cars. Esmark was glad to have Avis as part of its Norton Simon acquisition, but Esmark was then acquired by Beatrice and now Beatrice owned them. They were at this point still buying all GM cars.

GM was very pleased. Beatrice was then sold to the investment firm of Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts and Company and Beatrice sold its Avis division to Wesray Capital Corp. They had separated out Avis Europe, which was then its own entity and was traded on the London Stock Exchange. GM fearful of losing its juicy customer, which was worth now over 260 million in 1986 dollars, GM decided to buy up Avis stock and become a minority shareholder.

The Avis Company then was purchased by its employees in an ESOP for 750 million. HFS Inc. then purchased Avis to go with its holdings of resorts, hotels and other businesses. In May of 2001, Cendant Corp bought all of Avis for 937 million and still owns it this month. Cendant has over 50,000 employees nationwide. They still have some ownership from GM and still buy their cars. Most of Avis cars are Buick’s, Pontiacs and Cadillac’s. GM discontinued Oldsmobile and previously they had lots of those. Now most of these type cars are either sold or waiting to be sold. Avis is expanding into Used Car Sales lots. They have started a prototype in NJ:

http://www.avisnj.com/more_info.html if you would like to see their progress

If you own a mobile car washing company you may wish to contact them to see if you can do all their washing. Their used cars come with 30 day bumper to bumper and 12,000 Avis backed warranties. Also they offer 12 month leases on new or used cars. The new cars would be similar to the Enterprise Lease Deal and the used car lease is basically a 12 month rental or a rental car run out; a new twist on an old theme. If it works we expect other car rental agencies to try that too.

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Avis has 931 agency outlets, 213 at airports and 445 at off airport lots in the USA. Worldwide about 3,120; their fleet hovers around 200,000 cars plus or minus. Their HQ is now in Parsippany NJ. Their CEO was once with Budget Group and Continental Airlines. Their President was also from another competitor. Avis has 275 licensees, which should be our primary targets for service. Many do their own cars, but others can never seem to get them all done. Many other locations need a mobile car washing service urgently due to lack of all the labor to wash the cars and the volume of course that they rent. To find an Avis nearest you go the this web site:

http://www.avis.com/AvisWeb/profile/AvisHome

Then type in zip codes. Hint - leave off the last two digits of the zip code to find all the rental offices in your area. The reason I recommend Rent-A-Car companies to expand your clientele of your mobile car wash business is because for some three decades our company was in the business of mobile car washing before my retirement and we always felt it easy to sign up Rent-A-Cars to increase our company's monthly income. I hope you will consider this in expanding your company in 2006.

"Lance Winslow" - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest writer for Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lance_Winslow

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