In this series, we ask top industry execs and marketers across the country about their biggest fears and concerns. What are the things of marketing nightmares? This week, we caught up with Bassem El-Rahimy, senior marketer at Turo Canada, about the biggest problems he faces.

In June, Bassem El-Rahimy was promoted to managing director of the peer-to-peer car sharing brand. El-Rahimy had been handling the company’s marketing duties for the Canadian market since July 2021.

What keeps you up at night?

We launched in the Canadian market eight years ago to better utilize Canada’s 26 million cars. I’m constantly focused on two challenges: providing Canadians with the best experience renting cars and helping them monetize their vehicles to support their financial needs and create sustainable businesses. I’m proud of how much we’ve accomplished since launch, but we still have a lot of work to complete our mission.

What specific challenges have you faced to grow the business in Canada that are different from those you face stateside?

Canada was the first international market Turo expanded to. As the company’s first local hire, I’ve seen firsthand the ups and downs of scaling a marketplace in a new location. We were delighted to provide our services in English and French from day one. It’s easy to underestimate the work required to localize a U.S. product to Canada. It goes beyond just language, as we wanted to ensure our positioning felt Canadian while maintaining the company’s global brand.

Before our launch in 2016, very few Canadians knew anything about peer-to-peer car sharing. Since Turo was founded in the U.S. in 2009, Americans had access to peer-to-peer car sharing for years prior to its arrival in Canada, meaning the stateside audience had greater knowledge and familiarity with the industry compared to those in other countries. Introducing a new category and educating folks about the benefits of the business model to a whole new country was unique to our Canadian business at the time.

To what extent can you take inspiration from similarly operating brands in different spaces, such as Airbnb, to grow your customer base?

At its core, Turo is customer-obsessed. We constantly review the latest innovations in travel and technology, including those from disruptors outside our industry, to improve and iterate on our consumer experience. While we may take inspiration from our peers, Turo has created a unique space within transportation and technology, so we mainly focus on exploring innovations and tactics unique to our users. We want to ensure we intentionally target and provide value to the right audiences for Turo and meet their distinct needs.

What has been the toughest demographic nut to crack in Canada, and how are you approaching that?

Some audiences are slower to embrace innovations like Turo and prefer familiar options. We focus our marketing on Canadians most likely to use Turo, mainly elder Gen Z and millennials who are adventure seekers and travel lovers, or those who appreciate Turo’s fit into their curated lifestyles.

Our most impactful campaigns met our audience where they already were. For example, we partnered with Kayak and key airports nationwide to introduce and educate Canadians about our offering at critical moments in their travel journeys. Last year, we partnered with the Michelin Guide and the Jonas Brothers to offer once-in-a-lifetime experiences only available on Turo. This year, we partnered with Canada Basketball to support homegrown athletes as they embark on an exciting journey and enable unique experiences for fans to participate in something special.

How do you foresee vehicle ownership changing in the Canadian market as people use transit more, and become more budget- and planet-conscious and have fewer kids?

Every year, we publish a Car Ownership Index with Leger that offers an exciting glimpse into Canadians’ car usage habits. This year, we’re seeing that Canadians, especially young
millennials, are being priced out of car ownership. More than half (56%) of young millennials surveyed are less likely to buy/lease a vehicle this year because of recent inflation rates. However, the financial pressures of car ownership aren’t limited to younger Canadians: 37% of Canadian respondents without a vehicle cited “having a car is too expensive” as their number one reason for not owning/leasing one. Given difficult macroeconomic conditions, it’s unsurprising that Canadians are reconsidering the traditional car ownership model and becoming more budget-conscious.

I anticipate more Canadians questioning whether the costs of car ownership are worth it. Economically, it can be hard to justify when vehicles sit idle 95% of the year. Many will opt for access over ownership. Car sharing delivers precisely that: vehicle access on an as-needed basis with no fixed expenses. Unsurprisingly, given their concerns about the cost of vehicle ownership, young millennials are leading the charge in car sharing adoption, as over one in five respondents have used it in the past 18 months, which is significantly higher than the average across all age groups of 9%.

Regarding the note about Canadians becoming more planet-conscious, I foresee increased adoption of EVs once current barriers are addressed – including Canadians’ lack of firsthand experience driving one. The index found that eight out of 10 Canadians surveyed had never driven an EV before, but half of Canadians surveyed would be more comfortable buying one if they could test drive it for a few weeks/days before making that purchase decision. There’s s an appetite for EVs, but Canadians need to get behind the wheel first to familiarize themselves with the technology through extended test drives.