The American Rental Association will send a strong message to both professionals and do-it-yourselfers next spring when it launches National Rental Month. That message is embodied in A.R.A.'s slogan: "Renting: The Smart Way To Get Things DoneŽ."

National Rental Month, scheduled for April 2000, will combine a comprehensive national media schedule, an integrated public-relations campaign and local-use materials to help members promote the event in their markets. While National Rental Month aims to increase awareness of renting among all consumers, it will feature a special promotion exclusively for the construction industry.

The A.R.A. national television advertising campaign will blanket The Weather Channel and three other cable networks - plus the syndicated Martha Stewart Living show - with more than 150 30-second spots during March and April. The commercials will run during do-it-yourself and home entertaining programs on Home & Garden TV (HGTV), The Learning Channel (TLC) and Lifetime.

Newly produced TV commercials will build on the first-generation spots that showed many possibilities of renting. The new spots (both general tool/construction and event/ party) will emphasize why renting is a smart alternative to buying. They will be available in February for members to use locally.

To reach contractors, A.R.A. has partnered with the Associated Construction Publications and will promote the rental industry two ways. First, 10 regional "Rental Equipment Source Books" will be produced, listing all A.R.A.-member stores by city, state or province. Listings also will be cross-referenced by types of equipment. Also included is a traffic-building program with an incentive that can be redeemed at participating member stores.

Produced as spiral-bound handbooks, the source books will be distributed to 115,000 contractors in the United States and Canada in time for spring work.

As an added bonus, full-page ads promoting National Rental Month will run in rental industry trade publications, as well as the April issues of all ACP magazines in the United States: California Builder & Engineer, Construction, Construction Bulletin, Construction Digest, Construction News, Dixie Contractor, Michigan Contractor & Builder, Midwest Contractor, New England Construction, Pacific Builder & Engineer, Rocky Mountain Construction and Texas Contractor and Western Builder. The ads also will appear in the Daily Commercial News & Construction Record and Journal of Commerce in Canada.

A public-relations campaign that will promote the rental message among nationally broadcast special-interest programs dealing with do-it-yourself projects and home entertaining also is being finalized. The public-relations effort will target major national and regional newspapers, national news and business wire services and trade publications.

A.R.A. members will play a key role in the overall promotion. To help with planning, they will receive the National Rental Month Promotion Resource Guide in January. It will include information on how to work with local media to stimulate coverage of National Rental Month. The public-relations section will include:

• Template news releases for both local print and broadcast media.
• A letter to be sent on members' store letterhead to solicit a mayoral proclamation of National Rental Month in their community (A.R.A. will work on securing proclamations at the state and national levels).
• Suggestions and tips for how members can work with local news media to secure coverage of National Rental Month and their own businesses.
• "Talking points" on the observance and the rental industry that can be mentioned during an interview by local media.

The Promotion Resource Guide also will contain print ad slicks and radio commercial scripts that members can use to promote their stores in local media. A.R.A. members will have plenty of time to plan their promotional activities.

In mid-March, members will receive a free in-store merchandising kit containing a number of display items - such as banners and counter cards - to inform customers about National Rental Month. Members can display the items well before the beginning of April. Rental businesses with multiple locations can order additional in-store kits for branch locations, but they will have to hurry; order forms were faxed to members in early December. The deadline for ordering extra kits is Jan. 6.

The kit is only the beginning of possible local tie-ins to National Rental Month as members will be encouraged to conduct a special event such as an open house or how-to clinic on spring garden work. Several members or an entire local association of A.R.A. might stage a rental-promotional event at a shopping mall or other public venues.

For more details on National Rental Month:

• Call Fred Anderson, vice president, communications, toll-free at A.R.A. (800) 334-2177, extension 254;
• Call Ryan Albers, Kragie/ Newell Agency, toll-free at (888) TRY-RENT (879-7368);
• Watch the A.R.A. Today! video at your local, state or provincial association meeting between now and March.
• Read about it in your monthly copy of the A.R.A. Today! newsletter.
• At the Annual A.R.A. Convention and Rental Trade Show, attend the advertising and marketing seminar, "National Rental Month - What's In It For Me?" from 10 a.m. to noon, Monday, Feb. 14, 2000;
• Also at the convention, drop by the A.R.A. Advertising and Marketing booth, no. 3334 in Hall D, during exhibit hours, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday, Feb. 14, through Wednesday, Feb. 16, and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 17;
• Check the A.R.A. Web site <www. ararental.org>; and
• Watch your fax machine from now through April 30 for updates and ideas.