Brand Relevance: Making Competitors Irrelevant - always yours

122 BRAND RELEVANCE
as 1989, when Enterprise started advertising and was already a
major force with some $ 600 million in sales. 14 More important,
its eyes were elsewhere. Hertz was focused on and aggressively
competing with the other airport brands, playing the brand preference
game.
As Enterprise grew the market, its competitive advantages
became signifi cant such as its customer relationships, its insurance
company service portfolio, its reputation among repair
shops, its offi ce coverage, and its cost advantages all provided
barriers to competitors. When Hertz and the rest woke up,
Enterprise was dominant in the major cities.
Zipcar
The major rental car companies were again blindsided by car
sharing. Zipcar was started in 2000 in Boston on the basis of the
completely new concept that people could share cars instead of
owning them. Most cars in urban settings are used for only a few
hours per week. Why should people pay for owning and maintaining
cars when they are not being used? They could instead
join a club and become Zipsters, allowing them access to cars
located at sites around the city. Members can simply reserve
cars online or by phone, any time of day or night, minutes or
days or months before they need them. When they arrive at
the cars, the microchips in their Zipcard membership cards will
signal the cars to unlock. They then drive the cars for hours
or days. All this can be aided by a Zipcar iPhone application.
Parking, fuel, and comprehensive insurance are part of the deal.
They pay for the use of the cars by the hour or day.
Zipcar members can eliminate the need for owning and
maintaining a car, or at least a second car, thereby saving a signifi
cant amount of money. For each Zipcar, it is estimated that
fi fteen to twenty personally - owned vehicles are eliminated. 15
Plus, customers can drive a variety of cars depending on their
moods and tasks. But there is more. Members can have a positive