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- Hertz has launched “Gold Squad,” a program featuring Golden Retriever Service Dogs at the airport to make travelers more comfortable.
- Dogs will promote the Hertz’s Gold Plus Rewards Loyalty program, offering faster rentals and exclusive rates.
- Hertz has the public vote on which cities Gold Squad will visit next.
Car rental company Hertz borrows marketing play that uses the best friend of America: Man to promote its products.
Hertz started what is called the Gold Team, featuring driving Subaru cars in commercials, as in Subaru, with three golden retrievers and one yellow Labrador retriever.
The Gold Team is a group of about 20 Golden Retriever Service Dogs this year at various US airports, and if you’re lucky next year.
“I know that the last leg of my trip could drain, so I take the Hearts Gold team to change it, and I hug it a few times during the peak hours of the airport.
The name Gold Squad is played with the Hearts gold and black logo. Not only will dogs put a smile on the faces of travelers, they will also help Hertz employees to promote enrollment in Hertz’s free Hertz Gold Plus Rewards Loyalty program. The program allows members to create a car rental faster, earn exclusive fees when booking on Hertz.com or the Hertz app, skip counters at selected locations, earn redemption points, and more on free rental days.
“This is a gold squad and we want people to feel gold,” Hertz spokesman Lauren Ruster said of the dogs. “You can join Gold Plus rewards and skip counters on future trips.
A huge hit with travelers
Luster said Hertz got the idea earlier this summer to take his dog to the airport during summer dog days. She said dogs from local service dog organizations are skillfully trained for a variety of purposes.
“It’s as easy as wanting to ease the travel experience, especially while traveling,” says Luster.
Hertz ran his first gold team at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on August 18th and said he was extremely busy on Monday. The dog met people from 9am to 2pm that day.
“We wanted to start from there and see how it went,” Ruster said. “It was a huge hit, so I want to take it to another airport.”
The dog photos and posts have received over 88 million views on YouTube, Facebook/Instagram and 9.9 million views on Tiktok, Luster said.
Now, Hertz is making public vote for where the puppy should pop up next by commenting on Hertz’s latest Instagram post. The selection will be between Chicago, San Diego or Atlanta to end this year. Next year, Hertz will guide the program to a wider audience of airport travelers, including perhaps Detroit Metro Airport.
Meet Gold Squad
Hertz highlighted some of the Gold squad members at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. One was Sammy. Sammy loved swimming and sitting neatly, “the fact that at a member-only rate, the owners spend less on car rentals and more on snacks.”
Then there’s Duke. Duke likes to chase tennis balls when he’s not comforting tired travelers, Hertz said. To sell its rewards program, the company points out that Duke likes to “make the ultimate choice and choose the best rear seat.”
Similarly, Golden Retriever Mulligan “loves skipping counters with peanut butter, long walks, gold and rewards.”
Luster said all dogs come from the city’s local service dog program, where Hertz brings the event.
“We had over 20 dogs on the Dallas-Fort Worth Gold Team, but the size of our team varies from city to city,” Luster said.
Are you allergic to your dog? Don’t worry. The dogs are stored in open spaces in the airport car rental area where travelers can choose to engage or not, accompanied by trained handlers.
Plus, Luster said, “To help all travelers have that ‘gold’ sense of taste, there are plenty of fun giveaways, including stress balls, snacks, water, and phone chargers from the Hertz Gold Squad brand. “
Jamie L. Larrow is a senior Autos writer covering Ford Motor Company for the Detroit Free Press. Please contact Jamie at jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jarouan. Sign up for our car newsletter. Become a subscriber.
