The pandemic has made advance planning for consumption patterns unpredictable at best. When the Avis Budget Group was faced with a cratering car rental market it also saw an unexpected surge in demand for purchasing former rentals. Alex Sutton explains how they used behavioral tracking and search buying approaches to compete again much larger dealers with a highly targeted media strategy. In a year of many pivots, here is a good example of moving quickly and efficiently on unexpected opportunities.

1. All of travel experienced a significant with some recovery
Source: Similarweb

2. Car rental recovered better than the travel average but the second wave
of COVID 19 has begun to deter rental interest once again
Source: Similarweb

3. Safety oriented SEM ad copy underperformed discount oriented copy
Sample copy:
Avis Safety Pledge Up to 30% Off
+98% CTR