Research to Develop a B2B Ad Campaign for a Leading Rental Truck Company

One of the leading rental truck companies in the United States (with hundreds of locations) was working with a marketing agency to rebrand its commercial rental communications. The company wanted to stand out from the competition and understand what emotional and functional factors would drive brand consideration. In particular, the company wanted to know how to increase rentals among:

 1) Those who rent from the competition;

 2) Customers who have not rented from the company in over 12 months;

 3) Those who rent from the company but also rent from the competition.

The rental truck company on-boarded Provoke Insights to facilitate this B2B research process.

Provoke Insights proposed a two-phased research process that also included the development of a strategy deck and a creative brief once the research was completed.

1. Qualitative research. In-depth telephone interviews were conducted among the aforementioned segments, to dig into the targets’ attitudes and behaviors during the rental truck selection process and uncover which attributes help drive the decision to choose the company or the competition. 

2. Quantitative research. The online study among rental truck decision-makers included a Max-Diff analysis. This specific technique determines which attributes resonate and directly influence commercial truck rentals.

Once the brand reviewed the results of both phases of the research, the company asked Provoke Insights to develop a brand strategy. The strategy deck guided the development of a full multi-channel advertising campaign. With what Provoke Insights provided, the rental truck company was able to identify:

• The brand’s unique selling proposition

• The importance of each aspect of the process to increase rentals: account setup, reservations, pick-up, on the road, and drop-off. 

• What attributes or combination of attributes drive rentals (this looks at not only what are differentiators but how important those attributes are to the customer) 

• How do needs differ between company size and does branding need to account for this 

• What brand perception is of the company vs. the competition.