Pokémon GO players in Boston received a little extra help "catching them all" on Thursday, July 21. Car rental service Zipcar offered free chauffeured rides to players of this summer's hottest mobile game. For those living under a rock, Pokémon GO requires players to actively move around in pursuit of Pokémon that appear via augmented reality on players' mobile screens.
Zipcar made it possible for gamers to travel free of charge from one end of Beantown to the other if they tweeted @Zipcar to reserve a car with their preferred one-hour time slot. Andrew Daley, Zipcar's Vice President Marketing, vouched for the company's tech-savvy audience, describing the activation to Adweek as "a natural alignment for our brand." Once inside their Zipcars, players could make use of complimentary survival kits that included snacks, water, and, of course, phone chargers.
Avis-owned Zipcar may have tapped into the cultural zeitgeist, but to what extent do they tap into media budgets? We looked to our sources at Access Confidential for the latest information.
- Boston-based Zipcar spent less than $5MM in advertising last year with the largest percentage allocated to digital.
- In 2015, Zipcar substantially increased its spend in out-of-home advertising after a three year decline in OOH spend.
- Zipcar owner Avis spent over $15MM in total ad spend last year with the most money going towards digital.