American Enthusiasm Meets British Car Rental in Rent-A-Car Spots

Brad and Dave are back to help launch Enterprise Rent-A-Car’s next phase of the ‘U.K. Car Hire with U.S. Customer Service’ campaign. 

Through new TV adverts, idents, webisodes and digital created by Dare, and media planned by PHD, the campaign aims to highlight Enterprise Rent-A-Car’s exceptional customer service and their broad network of locations across the U.K. and Europe. The new spots also feature Enterprise employees as extras in the background, with at least one employee from every U.K. group being represented.

As part of the campaign Enterprise Rent-A-Car will also be sponsoring Sky’s ‘Home-grown’ comedy package, which features Sky commissioned comedy programmes including Moone Boy, Stella, Trollied, Mount Pleasant and Touch of Cloth.

The sponsorship activity will consist of programme idents, a presence on the Sky website and on Sky On Demand with the characters Patriotic American Brad and his more reserved English counterpart, Dave, who will exchange banter with each other and customers.

This Sky exclusive deal which was struck by Omnicom Media Group’s PHD and the network’s content arm, Drum, will enable Enterprise Rent-A-Car, to increase brand awareness amongst a key audience and will associate the brand with relevant and premier Sky comedy content.

Lee Broughton, Assistant Vice President of Global Marketing said: “Humour is still at the core with Brad and Dave working together despite — or maybe strengthened by — their cultural differences. We’re keeping the fun banter and teamwork of the two characters and putting a fresh spin on it. In these new ads, Brad explains Enterprise service and our convenient locations using extreme American phrases, which Dave helpfully ‘translates’ for our British customers.”

Sean Thompson, Chief Creative Officer at Dare said:  “To shift the Brad and Dave Enterprise format in a new direction we decided to amplify an offbeat American vibe. To do this we upped the characterisation and brought in the A list Hollywood director of Horrible Bosses, Seth Gordon. These new adverts are a smart and clever extension of the humour we see in the original Brad and Dave campaign.  Working on the Enterprise business is a real pleasure and we're delighted with the latest campaign which we hope will continue to build awareness of the Enterprise brand.”

Two years ago Brad and Dave were introduced to U.K. audiences with the commercials ‘Brand’ and ‘Sir Jeff’, highlighting Enterprise’s outstanding, American style of customer service, delivered for the U.K. car hire market. The campaign expanded in September 2013 with two new ads that promote the £14.99/day weekend special — Loudspeaker and Game Face.