For the young, urban professional who lacks a car, it’s often difficult to escape the concrete jungle.

Toronto-based Alamo Car Rental Canada is looking to appeal to city dwellers – particularly those in need of a break – with a new print campaign sporting the tagline ‘Let me outta here.’

This is a different tactic for the brand, which in the past has opted for a value message, says VP marketing Frank DeCesare.

‘We wanted to look at the emotional side, as opposed to the practicality,’ he says. ‘When it comes to weekend rentals, too often companies look toward price as an influencer, but that’s a byproduct of the overall equation.’

To come to this understanding, Alamo commissioned a survey among those in its target demo, professionals aged 35 to 54, and discovered that consumers view the weekend as a means to get away from the everyday pressures of life – and that a set of wheels is the avenue through which that getaway can be exercised, explains DeCesare, who describes Alamo’s brand attributes as ‘fun,’ ‘friendly’ and ‘helpful.’

Created by Montreal-based Agence Braque, the first execution, which debuted last month in travel publications such as Outpost, depicts a maze of grey cubicles – the typical brain-numbingly mundane office setting.

Meanwhile, a newer instalment featuring a broken-down bus surrounded by exotic animals, is meant to suggest that travellers would have a more pleasant experience in a rented car.

Says Braque copywriter Mario Laberge: ‘In this industry you always see the car on the road near the ocean. We wanted to break that rule.’

Braque also needed to avoid cannibalizing share from Alamo’s sister brand National Car Rental, which DeCesare describes as a ‘full-service brand’ geared at an entirely different set of consumers – business travellers.

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Client: Alamo Car Rental Canada

Account Director: Mélanie Courtois