Why They Are Doing All That

A grim Gestapo type in boots and a belted leather coat began to lecture in German-accented English: "Businessmen, you have perhaps noticed that Hertz has been ticking along like a fine watch lately. This is no accident. This is the result of training and discipline." He pushed through a steel door that clanked shut, and conducted a tour of the concrete block: "There we take the men who service the cars and turn them into fanatics. And in this area, we are building a super troop of car attendants." The 60-second commercial, viewed during the Dean Martin show on NBC, ended with a closeup of Hertz's "efficiency expert," who asked: "And why, why are we doing all this?" In an apparent satire on Nazi war criminals, he answered: "I don't know. I'm just following orders." Funny? The 94 persons who wrote or called up the network-- an unusual reaction for a commercial spot--did not think so. They found it downright offensive.

"This commercial is emotional. People are going to feel it. It tries to project an attitude that Hertz works harder," explained James Durfee, president of Carl Ally, Inc., the advertising agency that devised it to help Hertz rent cars. Said Hertz Vice President Gerald Shapiro, a former advertising man who now heads the rent-a-car division: "We like to explore new and unknown areas." Buried. Last week Hertz high brass pondered whether it had explored the wrong area and decided to bury the leather-coated efficiency expert for good. "This is not the first time, I am sure, that a major advertiser has found one of his commercials didn't do what it was supposed to do," said Hertz President Rodney A. Petersen.

With its Gestapo creation canceled, Carl Ally is using a relatively gentle tone for Hertz. Its continuing campaign is aimed at the weary traveler who can, through his friendly Hertz man, borrow an umbrella when it rains, make an appointment with the local dentist, or scrounge a quarter for a shoeshine.

Big Boys Now. All this is Hertz's big push to counter the gains that have been made by Avis in the expanding car-rental market. Now Avis has changed its line. It has exported its popular "We try harder" campaign to Great Britain, has stopped its No. 2 talk at home. "We've reached a point where we are no longer the little second guy. We're big boys now," said William Bernbach, chairman of Doyle Dane Bernbach, which carries the over $6,000,000 Avis account. Now, D.D.B. has counted 47 bugs that plague car renters and pledged to do battle against them throughout 1968. The latest effort features such creatures as the flat-spare bug, the wobbly-mirror bug and the mirror-smearer bug--which "multiply like mad if left alone." In a really competitive business, explains Avis President Winston Morrow, service is the ultimate weapon.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.