• by Tanya Gazdik , September 12, 2016

National Car Rental is extending its relationship with Patrick Warburton, whose inclusion in creative has resulted in brand consideration for National increasing 8 percentage points.

The company is adding three TV spots and multiple digital videos to the “Go Like A Pro” campaign, where Warburton debuted his “control enthusiast” role. The creative campaign was created by Cannonball and the ads were placed by PhD.

The campaign is designed to reach “road warrior” frequent business travelers with the message that National Car Rental provides time-sensitive frequent airport travelers with unmatched control throughout their rental experience, says Rob Connors, the VP of brand marketing at National Car Rental.

“The ads use humor to address the lack of control frequently felt by these travelers at the airport, so they relate to Warburton and overwhelmingly enjoy his portrayal of the ultimate ‘control enthusiast,’” Connors tells Marketing Daily. “As a result, Warburton has become a recognized brand cue for National and has helped drive home the message that National offers unparalleled control over the rental experience as well as free upgrades.”

The effort has also increased communications awareness by 4 percentage points and National’s airport market share has grown 5%. 

“The ‘Go Like A Pro’ ads featuring Patrick Warburton represent National’s most successful advertising in nearly a decade, and we attribute a lot of that to Warburton’s personality and delivery,” Connors says. “We’re extremely pleased with how the campaign has performed, and plan to continue our partnership with Warburton for the foreseeable future.”

According to Millward Brown’s research, Warburton’s latest spot “Best Boss” significantly outperformed normative scores on all measures: recognition, enjoyment, relevance, believability, brand appeal and intent to rent. 

The first of the new 30-second ads -- which aired during NFL Sunday Night Football  on Sept. 11 -- teams Warburton with the band Loverboy in a spot called “Lovin’ Every Minute of It.”  In the remaining two spots, Warburton embodies the control National gives customers over their rental process by controlling his own self-appendectomy in “Smooth Operator” and exhibiting control over his own fashion in “Suits Me.” 

As part of the campaign, National also will launch a new series of digital shorts across its social media channels. In several of the videos, Warburton’s “control enthusiast” encourages viewers to “control the pre-roll” by actually skipping his digital advertisements – drawing a parallel to National‘s Emerald Club loyalty program where members have the “control” to skip the rental counter and select their own vehicles from the rental lot.

The spots will roll out beginning this month on broadcast and cable television, including cable news programming, NBC’s Sunday Night Football and CBS’s NFL football broadcasts, the 2016 Ryder Cup broadcast and across local sports programming for several MLB teams. The spots will also be supported by targeted online and mobile video networks.