Client:Enterprise Rent-A-Car
Campaign:Corporate reputation

The challenge

In the UK, Enterprise Rent-A-Car is the sole specialist in providing replacement vehicles and courtesy cars, which are relied upon in the event of an accident, as well as daily and weekend rental for private/business use. Primarily most people associate Enterprise with car hire and little else, so the team was charged with running a campaign to showcase and enhance Enterprise’s corporate profile outside the parameters of the car rental industry.

There were a range of challenges:

• Enterprise is a US business
• It is a privately owned so there are no public financial figures
• Car hire is not perceived as a ‘sexy’ sector

Solution

In order to build Enterprise’s corporate profile, news hooks, story angles and media vehicles were identified to enable a deeper focus on two core themes: customer service and fomenting an entrepreneurial spirit amongst a graduate employee base. Over the years, Enterprise has maintained a high level of customer service across the business and is now one of the UK’s top graduate recruiters.

Monitoring the media and keeping abreast of key news issues was crucial to adding the spark to enhance our stories. Finding good spokespeople, such as Donna Miller, European HR director for Enterprise Rent-A-Car, to provide interesting and newsworthy comment, was integral to the success of the campaign.

Working with Donna, we placed editorial about Enterprise in all the key national and HR media. Utilising her views about the social networking site Facebook and her experience of ‘boomerang hires’ (where former employees return to an old job), we created a platform by which to join the national debate over recruitment etiquette and how to acquire the top talent.

Initially Donna’s comments on Facebook generated interest from a key HR title, People Management, which joined forces with Enterprise in an extensive regional radio tour. A flurry of print and online coverage across the national, vertical and business press followed. Donna’s views on using Facebook in the workplace are still paying dividends in the Sunday Times and Daily Telegraph several months later.

Results

• Enterprise’s presence in major corporate media has increased significantly since this campaign kicked off in 2004 and key relationships have been built and maintained amongst the relevant media
• The result of this activity has been significant and quality editorial, which has positioned Enterprise as an interesting and relevant employer with lots to talk about
• Enterprise continues to be positioned as an employer of choice. The Times recently featured Enterprise and Donna in the ‘50 Places Where Women Want to Work’ survey and also in an article on what the sexes want from the workplace
• Donna Miller is now a leading commentator on HR issues as her media profile continues to attain new heights
• The Facebook and Boomerang Hire stories have received extensive coverage in People Management, Personnel Today, The Times, The Guardian, the Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Times, as well as interviews on several regional radio stations