Nelka Rent-a-car is a medium-size car rental business in Costa Rica. It has a fleet of about 200 cars and has 10 offices in different parts of the country. Our client wanted to rent at least 80% of their fleet for the summer season. Our problem was competing against huge advertising investments that our competitors were making in order to get the attention of the foreign tourists.The agency proposed to get hold of a different market, the one niche no one has yet taken advantage of: the domestic tourist. Although it was something new, and something that has never been tried before, the client trusted us.

During summer, after the low-budget campaign ended, Nelka rented all of their cars, being the national client 95% of it. This result was way above our client’s expectations. After summer, Nelka rent-a-car, has found and taken hold of a new niche market.

Our first step was to create a blog, named costaricaholes.com. This was an independent site dedicated to the bad conditions of the Costa Rica highways and streets. People here were able to complain about the problem and upload their own pictures of the holes on the streets. The blog’s promotion was made through viral mails and mouth-to-mouth advertising took care of the rest. Only 15 days after the site went online, people placed it as one of the top-10 sites of the country, getting around 30,000 clicks and almost 1500 photos were uploaded.Phase 2:On this phase, the blog turned into the official website of Nelka rent-a-car, beginning the massive campaign. We launched a print campaign using the pictures people themselves uploaded onto the website. The copy read: “If you’ll drive through Costa Rica, do it with a car that’s not yours, Nelka Rent-a-car, special fares for residents”.The campaign went further, with a direct mail that was sent to a database created on the blog. The piece emulated a monopoly board from Costa Rica, which featured the hottest tourist destinations in the country, but with holes in the path. The multi-media campaign lasted for a month, with tv ads, print ads, direct advertising, and flyers attached to the bills at different car-repair shops in the city. All of a sudden, people would start spending time with our idea and with the brand.

The domestic tourist. Residents of Costa Rica.