travel

Budget Rent A Car International
One of the world’s top three car and van rental companies.

Campaign
To promote Budget’s environmental initiatives.

Fee basis
Part of initial retainer.

Objectives
To position Budget Rent a Car as the first car rental company to commit to promoting alternative fuels and transport methods as part of its global eco-strategy.

Strategy and plan
Capitalising on earlier environmental initiatives, namely electric vehicles in France, a ‘first’ with LPG dual-fuelled cars and vans in the UK and the first electric vehicles in the USA, JSPR promoted the UK’s first ever commercial car club, the Edinburgh City Car Club. This was followed with the launch of driveshare, the UK’s first commuter transportation scheme. Besides mainstream media channels, PR efforts were concentrated on specialist environmental writers and special interest press. The bold UK initiatives were supported by news of the rental of alternatively-fuelled cars and the first hybrid vehicles by Budget EV Rental Cars in the USA.

Measurement and evaluation
Press coverage for the Edinburgh City Car Club included full-length features on Scottish TV, BBC Scotland, BBC South East, BBC Dream Wheels, Radio 4, Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio Scotland, Scot FM, Radio Forth, and Kingdom FM plus reviews in the Edinburgh Evening News, The Scotsman, Daily Record, The Herald, Scotland on Sunday, Daily Telegraph, The Express, The Observer, The Guardian, Intelligent Transport Systems, Fleet News, Motive, Green Futures, Wildlife Trust Newsletter, The Big Issue, Local Government and Health Executive, Local Transport Today and Surveyor. The City Car Club was endorsed by the Secretary of State for Transport. Full-page features on LPG appeared in The Guardian and Condé Nast Traveller and electric cars in the Financial Times, among others. Readership figures for the City Car Club alone in 1999 and 2000 were respectively 7.8m and 6.8m.

Results
Budget became very much regarded as the pioneer of environmental initiatives. In recognition, Budget won the Fleet News 2000 ‘Environmental Initiative of the Year’ Award for its pioneering initiative, the Edinburgh City Car Club.

IBTA
The International Business Travel Association, with over 4,000 members in 13 countries throughout the world including Europe, North America and Australia.

Campaign
To promote the association’s international conference in 2001.

Fee basis
One-off project.

Objectives
To promote the IBTA International Conference 2001, February 14 – 16, Barcelona, Spain across Europe and Scandinavia plus the Americas and Asia Pacific.

Strategy and plan
The global conference for buyers and suppliers of corporate travel services focused on specific issues currently facing travel managers and business travellers plus looked at future industry trends and forecasts. The PR concentrated on promoting the keynote speaker, Frederik Sorensen, Head of Air Transport Economic Regulations at the European Commission, who spoke on air traffic congestion and airline alliances. To generate wider consumer interest, JSPR capitalised on the hot topic of Deep-Vein Thrombosis, the subject of a session called ‘Flying – Is your company worth dying for?’. Other sessions promoted included Airbus Industrie’s presentation on the new super Jumbo, the A380, and the rapid near-term automation of travel processes. Besides arranging media interviews during the conference, JSPR followed-up with a round-up of key news.

Measurement and evaluation
While the client chose not to have a press cuttings service, pre-event media coverage was achieved across Europe, the Middle East, the USA and Asia Pacific plus also extensive pre-event publicity on the Internet.

Results
The International 2001 Conference made a profit and the IBTA was promoted more professionally to its existing and potential future membership base.

Europcar UK
Part of one of Europe’s largest car and van rental companies.

Campaign
To help re-establish Europcar as a leading car and van rental company in the UK.

Fee basis: Retainer.

Objectives
To restore Europcar’s credibility in the UK market place and improve poor employee morale.

Strategy and plan
Following a series of poor financial results and changes in senior management, JSPR concentrated on restoring credibility for the company by recommending a straightforward honest approach, unusual within such a highly competitive industry. A series of high profile interviews was organised with the new MD and Marketing Director. Quality profiles appeared in the leading travel trade and fleet media, and these were repeated on a regular basis. Speaker opportunities were secured at relevant conferences. A major emphasis was placed on internal employee communications and external client communications. A regular quarterly employee audio-cassette magazine programme, Performance News, was produced, employee Performance Awards created, and a quarterly customer newsletter, Business Brief, published. JSPR also wrote all of the MD’s speeches for the regular management and franchise meetings held.

Measurement and evaluation
Within the first year, the negative press attitude to the company was turned around and the coverage progressively became more positive. Working closely with the new MD, JSPR quickly positioned him as dynamic and approachable. By the second year, he was established as an industry voice. Meanwhile, employee morale was significantly improved.

Results
Europcar’s reputation was restored and the company became highly respected again. The all-important AA partnership was retained against all odds and many new partnerships and corporate account wins followed. The new senior management team was perceived to have achieved a major turnaround in business fortunes. Stephen Jones, Marketing and Sales Director, observed: “Under the guidance of JSPR, we restored morale within the company, regained credibility with the travel media and key clients, and earned the respect of our competitors. JSPR’s contribution to this was immense.”