For a company founded right in our backyard, Zipcar has been surprisingly absent from spheres of Boston influence. But that may soon change.
Founded in Cambridge and now located in the Innovation District, the car-sharing pioneer is looking to raise its profile as an iconic Boston success story that rivals the likes of companies such as Hubspot, WayFair and even those famous community pillars, Liberty Mutual and State Street.
"We're part of Boston's vibrant innovation economy, but as Bostonians, we're relatively humble," said Brian Harrington, Zipcar's executive vice president and chief marketing officer. "Many people are surprised to learn the sharing economy was born here and continues to call Boston home."
In the last year — and even amid a global expansion — Zipcar made a point to invest in a sort of local expansion, focusing on areas such as Mattapan and Roslindale. It also made a key local hire, tapping a top city hall cabinet member and Dorchester native, Justin Holmes, to run its corporate communications operation.
If you live in a Boston neighborhood, chances are that in the last year, you've seen a Zipcar or two pop up nearby, especially at MBTA stations. Zipcar added 41 cars to T stations in 2014, bringing the total to 80. In the past six months, Zipcar doubled the number of cars in Dorchester and launched two new spaces in Mattapan. Following a successful streak there, the company is now looking for additional opportunities nearby, hoping to land spots at visible, less traditional locations such as churches and community centers. A dozen new Zipcars also popped up last year in Roslindale, where there had been previously just one.
Two years after being acquired by Avis, Zipcar's corporate story is unfolding as a sort of model of brand preservation, in which the younger company has been encouraged to stay true to its geographic and demographic roots.
Besides the renewed focus on local ties, the best evidence of Avis seeing the value in Zipcar's autonomy is about to hit airwaves today — in the form of a new marketing campaign, a collaboration between Zipcar and the state of Vermont.
The campaign features a series of fun, tongue-in-cheek online ads titled, "I'd Tap That," using innuendo to showcase the simplicity of the tap-enabled unlocking mechanism on its fleet of cars. It's quintessentially Zipcar; undoubtedly not Avis. The campaign also harnesses a hallmark of millennial humor, the faux newscast, enlisting Vermont's top forestry official to insist that the state's maple sugar-makers "tap it" better than anyone. You can cast your vote at zipcar.com/WhoTapsItBest.
"We've been a disruptor without acting disruptive," said Harrington. "We're fun, witty and take risks."
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