Turo Canada is tapping Metrolinx’s GO Transit network to spur interest in peer-to-peer car sharing.
Metrolinx, the Crown agency responsible for integrating and managing GTA transit, announced that Turo is now GO Transit’s official car sharing partner. And the agency says the move will strengthen Ontario’s transportation system by allowing riders to request vehicle delivery at GO stations across the Greater Golden Horseshoe and easily reach their desired post-train or bus trip destination.
Bassem El-Rahimy, head of marketing at Turo Canada, tells strategy it’s doing a fully branded takeover of the Sky Walk at Toronto’s Union Station for eight weeks, has on-train announcements and also some brand ambassador activations around key moments like sporting events to attract consumers interested in weekend getaways to regions like cottage country.
Messaging includes “dive into your daydreams” and open the door to extraordinary,” the latter laddering back to its magical realism campaign last year involving tapping into the magic of car sharing.
Ambassadors will tout the Turo app’s ease of use and vehicle variety, something El-Rahimy says is a competitive advantage it has in the space as it competes against legacy car rental brands.
“The car rental category, generally speaking, is very functional,” El-Rahimy says. “People don’t get excited or interested in a temporary vehicle.” Hence, he says, Turo messaging involves Canada-specific scenery like the beach and the cottage.
El-Rahimy says it’s also doing train wraps and other more traditional OOH in a “very targeted buy.” There is also, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok to drive home the message.
According to El-Rahimy, the campaign is keying in on new and existing Go Transit commuters and enticing them to discover new Ontario destinations. The brand is going after “experience chasers,” older Gen Z and millennials on the hunt for a new adventure, while secondary audience of “particular curators,” skews more millennial and is more image-conscious.
Turo is growing, now in its seventh year and it is seeing “tremendous growth” in the GTA and this is one of its biggest Canadian campaigns, El-Rahimy notes.
Publicis Sport & Entertainment is supporting XM component of the campaign and localizing the “Open the Door to Extraordinary” campaign for Canada. LA-based SixTwentySix originally developed the “Open the Door to Extraordinary” ad campaign that launched last year, and supported this effort through production of local assets.
