RM Online - More about National Rental Month

The American Rental Association's commercials on The Weather Channel play a key role in National Rental Month.

The Weather Channel spots carry the rental message to viewers throughout the busiest times of the day - between 6 a.m. and midnight. Spots are divided between a general tool/homeowner/light contractor commercial and one promoting event and party rentals.

Most importantly, The Weather Channel is the only station - on cable, satellite or direct broadcast - on which a local business can place a tag that will be seen only in its local cable system at the end of a national commercial. During National Rental Month, that provides a powerful tie between the national campaign and the local rental store.

A.R.A. members still have time to sign up for a local tag. As long as they are available, members may choose between two commercials:

General tool/homeowner - 57 spots at $3 each for a campaign total of $171.
Event/party - 43 spots at $3 for a total of $129.

To sign up, members can call the Specialized Advertising department at TWC: (800) 872-9160, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday. Or they can meet with a representative of The Weather Channel at the A.R.A. Advertising Program booth, no. 3334 in the Light Construction department, during exhibit hours at the A.R.A. Convention and Rental Trade Show in Anaheim.

The signup deadline is March 1.

National Rental Month in April 2000 will raise the awareness of equipment rental among consumers. Rental business owners and managers can learn more about how it will directly benefit them during the A.R.A. convention Feb. 14-17 in Anaheim.

· At the Opening General Assembly - first thing Monday morning, Feb. 14 - NRM will be a centerpiece feature. Segments of A.R.A.'s new television commercials will be shown. These are the spots that will be broadcast on The Weather Channel and other cable networks during NRM - and A.R.A. members can purchase them for local broadcast.

· Immediately after the Opening General Assembly, a 10 a.m. Monday seminar answers the key question: "National Rental Month - What's In It for Me?" The seminar focuses on all of the ways that tying into the national promotion will benefit an individual rental business.

· Throughout the 25 hours of exhibits at the rental trade show, information on every aspect of NRM will be available at the A.R.A. Advertising Program booth, no. 3334 in the Light Construction section. While there, members can sign up for their individual tag on The Weather Channel spots.

Even before arriving at the convention, A.R.A. members will have received a copy of the free Promotion Resource Guide. It contains tools they can use to inform their community about what will be happening in their store during NRM. Besides an outline of every aspect of NRM, the guide contains:

Radio scripts to develop commercials for local broadcast;
Ad slicks and NRM logos for use in advertising and other print pieces; and
Public relations materials, including a shell news release that can be customized; a sample letter that can be written on members' letterhead to solicit a mayoral proclamation of NRM locally; and guidelines for working with local news media.

After the convention, members will have about a month and a half to finish preparations for their own store's events to tie into NRM. By tying into the national media campaign - a process that the advertising profession calls vertical integration - individual rental businesses get the benefit of the media exposure without the expense.

To help them get started, by mid-March, A.R.A. will send all members in the U.S. and Canada a kit of materials - such as a vinyl banner and a counter card - to help them publicize NRM in their showrooms.

The national exposure for National Rental Month actually kicks off in late March, when the A.R.A. commercials begin to appear on The Weather Channel - including A.R.A. members' tags on their local cable systems - and Home & Garden TV (HGTV). They will continue through April, along with spots on Lifetime and The Learning Channel and on the syndicated Martha Stewart Living. Two spots will air: one promotes home improvement and light contractor equipment, and the other shows event and party ideas. A.R.A. will spend more than $400,000 to air more than 300 national TV spots.

Besides the commercials, an aggressive public-relations campaign will be directed to publications and television programs. Targeted magazines will reach readers in the construction industry, special events and related businesses, and home entertainers and do-it-yourselfers. Targeted network, cable and syndicated television programs are viewed by the same audiences.