Avis No Longer Tries Harder

Avis recently announced that it was overhauling its brand strategy by retiring  its infamous tagline "We Try Harder" after over 5 decades and replacing it with the new tagline "It's Your Space".

The move is being pioneered by Avis' new CMO, Jeannine Haas, whose prior work experience includes stints at American Express and Ford Motor Co.  In a recent interview Jeannine explained the move by saying "Consumer-centric brands must always evolve in order to keep pace with ever-changing customer needs and preferences . . . Avis is evolving as a premium brand to better meet those needs. . . [the goal of the re-branding is to be] reflective of [Avis'] ongoing mission to be a customer-led, service-driven company, and presents the brand in terms of the customer experience and the advantages inherent in renting from Avis"


The new tagline, "It's Your Space", is supposedly targeted at business travelers and hypes up the fact that business travelers can recharge or be productive in the sanctuary of the car cabin. Avis' website even says, "With Avis it's more than a rental. It's your space."

My first reaction to this new marketing and brand strategy was it is a bad idea, my second reaction is its an AWFUL idea. . . Now I have no doubt that Jeannine and her marketing did plenty of consumer research that indicated "We Try Harder" doesn't resonate anymore with consumers.  But being customer-centric doesn't always mean taking what the consumer says literally.  My guess is that the essence behind the tagline is just as relevant as ever, it's just the customer experience has drifted far from this ideal.

In my opinion, "We Try Harder" is not just a tagline, it's a deep part of the brand's DNA and an important part of the consumer equity.  As a opposed to moving away from "We Try Harder", Avis should have doubled-down behind it - proving to consumers in this day and age how the customer experience is noticeable different, noticeable better because of Avis trying harder to please their consumers.  It's about having more agents, more smiles, more consumer choices, more flexibility, shorter lines, and fewer fees.  It's unique, it's ownable, it differentiates the brand from the other car rental companies.


An old "We Try Harder" commercial:


New "It's Your Space" commercial:



The new tagline, "It's Your Space" glorifies the car, which is nothing more than a commodity in this business.  The ad is generic, it could be for any car company.  It moves the brand to a place that's no longer unique in the American landscape.  My guess is this re-branding effort will be shorter lived than the new CMO can imagine and "We Try Harder" will be re-instated to its rightful place as a classic American tagline.