We Try Harder ("Avis is only No. 2")
Avis1963
We Try Harder ("Avis is only No. 2") is a 1963 print and television campaign for Avis, created by Doyle Dane Bernbach, New York.
Why it works
The founding document of underdog positioning. In 1963, DDB opened an Avis campaign by admitting the one thing no company ever says — we're not the leader — and turned it into the reason to choose them: "When you're only No. 2, you try harder. Or else." The confession bought credibility for every claim that followed (shorter lines, cleaner ashtrays, fuller tanks), and "We Try Harder" survived as the company's positioning for half a century. Ad Age ranked it No. 10 among the campaigns of the 20th century. It is studied in every strategy course as the canonical demonstration that a weakness, honestly owned, can be a stronger platform than a manufactured strength — the same honesty engine DDB had built for Volkswagen, applied to services.
Techniques
- Card stacking Admitting it is only number two becomes the reason to choose the company, because it has to try harder.
- Ethos An honest confession that no company normally makes buys credibility for every service claim that follows.
- Comparison Calling itself number two implicitly measures the company against the market leader, casting it as the hungrier challenger.
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