Sunday, October 21, 2012

We Are Number 2!


Have you ever seen an advertising campaign based on the fact that the company was number 2? I had never seen one either until I happened upon this image while browsing the internet:

This ad is from the 1960s.  The rental car company had not been doing well for some time, but, in an attempt to turn the company around, the new president of Avis hired an advertising company to help to create a new advertising campaign.  That ad company did their job well because within a year, Avis went from being 3.2 million dollars in debt to having a 1.2 million dollar profit.
                Would this scheme work today? It seems that Americans are so focused on being number one in everything and always trying to have the best that few would settle for a product or service advertising themselves as “Number Two”.  In Avis’s case the company really did not have much to lose.  If the scheme worked- great! If not, the company was pretty much in the same situation that they had started off in.  It would be interesting to see if this method would be able to bring a business back to life in the modern world.  Perhaps it would because although American like being the best, they also hate waiting in lines. 



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