Avis

Avis 'We Try Harder': how playing the underdog beat the market leader

Sam recounts how Avis, a clear number-two to Hertz, ran a 1960s campaign openly admitting it was number two ('We Try Harder', 'We're number 2, and that's good for you'). The honesty became a huge hit and Avis briefly took the number-one spot.

“Hertz had this ad campaign called We Try Harder. And then they also had other parts of the campaign that says, "We know we're number 2, and that's good for you." Or, and like, they just like, they like said that they were number 2 and like, this is why we have to work extra hard to beat, to do this. And they ended up becoming number 1 in the market for a little while.”

Steal thisLean into being the underdog in your marketing: admitting you're number two can make customers root for you.