When the Big Guy Hits Back

For three years, Hertz Corp., the No. 1 company in the U.S. car-rental field, stood stolidly by while Avis Inc., No. 2, successfully needled away with its "We try harder" advertising campaign. But no longer. Now Hertz, having changed ad agencies, is trying to turn Avis' own theme against it. Typical of the new Hertz ads: "For years, Avis has been telling you Hertz is No. 1. Now we're going to tell you why."

Why did Hertz take so long to hit back? Carl Ally, 42, head of a four-year-old agency that bears his name and now holds the Hertz account, explains the delay this way: "If a little guy comes up to you on the street and tugs at your coat and you swat him, everybody will say, 'You shouldn't have done that.' But if you walk on for 14 blocks and he keeps tugging, then people think you're justified to punch."

Get Tough with Avis. Hertz's punch has already received a response from Avis. As written by Doyle Dane Bernbach, the latest Avis ad reads in part: "They've come out with a get-tough-with-Avis campaign. Why?" Avis suggests that it is "because No. 1's share of the rent a car business is getting smaller," cites a drop from 56% to 50% in Hertz's share of the market in 26 key places since the original Avis campaign began. Another reason is that Ally, a fighter pilot in World War II and the Korean War, does not mind a good scrap--even with a mogul like William Bernbach, the creative boss at Doyle Dane who thought up the dramatically successful Avis campaign.

When Hertz gave its $7,500,000 account to the agency, the new strategy was almost immediately apparent to Ally. "Up to then," he says, "this had been a one-sided dialogue." Along with turning it into an argument, Ally also set out to see whether Avis' innuendoes--that Hertz had dirty ashtrays and sullen service--were true. Flying his own Beechcraft on an inspection trip, he toured airports, where most car rentals take place. At each stop, Ally says, he prowled through parking lots of both companies, emptying ashtrays into paper bags. "There wasn't an awful lot of difference," he says wryly. "We lost in Tulsa, for instance, by one butt. But in Amarillo they had two more cigarettes and a half-eaten taco."

Eyeball to Eyeball. Ally's returning ads partly spoof those for Avis by Doyle Dane, partly press Hertz prowess. One television commercial, for instance, shows a "We try harder" balloon deflating slowly while a voice ticks off Hertz's advantages in available cars, widespread locations and electronic reservation service. Another agrees that Avis' "only No. 2" claim is "hard to argue with." Ally, a teaching fellow in English at the University of Michigan before he turned to ad writing, proudly produced another that asks: "No. 2 says he tries harder. Than who?"

With the Hertz campaign only seven weeks old, cash-register results so far are inconclusive, but Ally is pleased that mail is running 9-1 in favor of the ads. Like Doyle Dane, he admits that what he calls "an eyeball-to-eyeball, nose-to-nose" confrontation will be good publicity for the entire $500-million-a-year car-rental industry. It should also be rewarding for the agencies. Avis' annual ad budget has risen from $1,200,000 to $4,500,000 since the No. 2 campaign began, and Hertz's outlay is certain to increase as well.

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