Hertz

It was a notable anniversary of Hertz's Dream Collection — and did you know they rent Lamborghinis and Ferraris? Yeah, neither did I until this assignment. Anyway, there were a lot of us on the call and someone suggested a promotional write-up on the origin of the collection: interview the team that came up with the concept, talk about market analytics and the risk inherent in establishing a luxe sub-category for the world's oldest and most successful car rental company. I waited for a break in the conversation, and then I offered some truth: that no one wants to read about market analytics or sub categories. Rather, I suggested, put me and a guitarist friend in a race-trim Mustang from LA to Vegas, let us hit the strip in a top-end Mercedes for the night, we'll take a Cayenne across the desert to Palm Springs in the morning and drop my friend off at his gig, then burn it back to LA with a Porsche 911 and a date-palm milkshake. Write it up as the perfect three-day weekend courtesy of Hertz, and who wouldn't want to jump into the Dream Collection. More fun to write and, more importantly, more fun to read. I captured the spirit of the Dream Collection, the piece was a huge success in achieving Hertz's goals and, incredibly, we got it done with no speeding tickets. Win/win/win.