The market development team at Avis must have had a few Red Bull-fueled, pimp-my-rental brainstorming sessions early this year. The company announced in May that they would roll out in-car WiFi services in select cities. Yesterday, they added another service – a chauffeur for your rental.
There’s a few cool elements to this new service to consider.
- It’s affordable! Only $30/hour (on top of rental fees) with a three hour minimum. For a business traveler with multiple appointments in a new city – this is well worth the bling to get from point-to-point on-time and without hassle.
- You can dismiss your driver at any time and take over the wheel. This is going to make the purchase decision quicker and easier for people who might hesitate to hire a driver. It makes it seem more personal and considerate of the customer’s schedule.
- The move adds competition to the livery market, meaning more options and possibly new negotiation tactic for transpo-gurus in the event planning realm.
The reactions so far to the Avis announcement are mixed. The livery guys are grumbling. Experience the Message, the experiential marketing blog, calls it disruptive – and we love that. Bold and disruptive moves usually make things much more interesting – and in this 2.0 kinda-world we’re living in, disruptive moves are working steadily in favor of the consumer.
What I like is that this disruption is coming from a brick-and-mortar company. It’s good to know that a BIG, established organization sees value in adding value to their service mix.
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