Documentary series tells stories behind vehicle hire businesses’ success

Strategic marketing agency Purpose Media has produced a mini documentary series to tell the stories of some of the businesses helping make Britain’s largest vehicle hire network a success.

United Rental System is a group of 578 independent companies who have come together to leverage their expertise and relationships to be able to offer the most up to date model cars and vans to customers at the best prices.

Operating from over 800 locations and together offering more than 135,000 vehicles, the Licensees pride themselves on their reliability, friendly service and high levels of customer care.

The network understands that its success is built upon having the best local operators, who are trusted in the communities they serve, and wanted to ensure that this unique proposition was properly understood by both internal and external audiences.

Purpose Media, based in South Normanton, Derbyshire, was commissioned to identify a powerful, compelling solution to help United tell its story.

The Purpose team recommended a series of documentary-style videos which would feature individual businesses within the group, examine their histories within the communities where they are based and highlight some of the people who make those companies special.

Four case study videos were produced, featuring businesses in Enfield, Reading, Conway and Edinburgh, to form a series entitled United Stories.

The process, from pre-production through to editing and final review, took four months, with two members of Purpose Media’s video team visiting each location, using the very latest 4K cameras and lighting equipment to achieve TV quality final outputs.

“Video is such a powerful story-telling tool because it allows us to reveal the human face of a business and the emotion which is invested into making those businesses successful,” explains Purpose Media Head of Video Alistair Bullock.

“We spent time before each shoot getting to really know each of the featured companies, understanding what makes them tick, their history and back story and why they do what they do.

“This allowed us to produce videos which celebrate each of those businesses for their individuality, whilst also subtly explaining how United is able to support in the background, providing owners with access to collective expertise and relationships and, ultimately, helping them provide an even greater service to customers.”

The videos were premiered at United Rental Systems’ Connect 25 conference of Licensees and network partners.

The Purpose team also supported that event by producing design templates to ensure a sharp, professional appearance for presentations, creating branded assets which were displayed on conference screens during breaks and to produce a video highlights package.

“The client is absolutely delighted and now has a set of tools which it can use to powerfully demonstrate to audiences both internally and externally why the businesses within the United Rental System network are so brilliant,” adds Alistair.

United Rental Systems, Marketing Manager, Naomi Bell said: “Purpose Media invested time to properly understand what makes the businesses within the United Rental System network unique and then devised a powerful and compelling video solution which will enable us to share that story with key audiences. They got us. And they really delivered.”