Hertz, in conjunction with Google and its agency Forward3D, embarked on a year-long re-evaluation of its marketing and sales operations in order to maximise profitability.
Google’s video case studies to date have been filmed retrospectively, so for this partnership they wanted to capture the story in real time. Working closely with digital agency Earnest, we documented the project from start to finish.

Hertz has a very large and complex digital infrastructure, so initially the project was about capturing the Hertz & Google teams defining what was technically possible, in order for Hertz to decide what route to take. During this phase we adopted a discrete fly-on-the-wall style to capture the initial candid meetings.

It was apparent straight away that the key to this wide ranging project was to ensure that the explanation of different technologies and strategies were clearly defined across separate episodes. This content development involved many google hangouts and pre-interviews, ahead of conducting the on-camera interviews. This approach meant that rather than relying on a scripted voice-over, we were able to tell the story in a natural way with the key contributors.

Making the films visually interesting required a lot of effort to film the supporting shots, using a mixture of controlled setups, shots on the move as well as actuality at various Hertz and exterior locations.

The complex nature of the subject matter, and the high profile of the two companies involved, made this a very challenging and rewarding project to work on. Once finished, the three episodes featured as a case study on the UK page of ‘Think With Google’, a showcase and sharing forum for digital innovation by Google and their partners.