Just Evil Enough

Chapter 21:

 

Bug into feature

When Avis attacked Hertz with its legendary “we’re number two, so we try harder” advertising campaign, its ads claimed that, as number two, Avis couldn’t afford to “not be nice,” or “make you wait,” or have “dirty ashtrays” (subtly implying that the market leader was guilty of them all). Admitting you weren’t the biggest or best was already subversive, but the real genius of Paula Green’s* “We Try Harder” campaign was the trap it set: it made Hertz look complacent, but any rebuttal would look like punching down at an earnest competitor.

Variations of the campaign ran for half a century.¹ Hertz finally escaped the trap over a decade later when it launched its own volley of attack ads that acknowledged its place ...