Dive Brief:

• Carsharing startup Getaround on Wednesday launched "It's Go Time," its first global, integrated marketing campaign, according to a press release shared with Marketing Dive. The company provides access to nearby cars that are rented from other consumers.
• The campaign, developed with San Francisco-based creative agency Eleven Inc., is designed to show how the platform offers the "easiest way to get the best car for whatever you want or need to do," according to the press release. The effort includes audience-targeted television, out-of-home, radio, social and digital advertising as well as a partnership with Jonathan Van Ness, one of the stars of the Netflix series "Queer Eye."
• The key theme of the campaign is that whether for a date night, moving day or a beach day, among other uses, Getaround aids consumers during "Go Time."

Dive Insight:

This campaign is the first for Getaround, which has been getting around a lot recently. In April, it announced the $300 million acquisition of Europe's largest and fastest-growing carsharing platform, Drivy. With the acquisition, Getaround reaches 300 cities worldwide, including 170 new European cities, and claims a combined total of over five million users.

The integrated global campaign could help the brand familiarize consumers with its carsharing platform, a sharing economy service that resembles Airbnb more than the ride-hailing offered by Uber and Lyft. Despite its global growth, Getaround's user base pales in comparison to the tens of millions that use Uber and Lyft, or the more than 150 million that use Airbnb.

To help aid its global campaign, Getaround has tapped a popular celebrity influencer in Van Ness, who has quickly become a go-to ambassador for brands looking to reach millennial consumers. The "Queer Eye" star has partnered with Smirnoff vodka as part of its "Welcome to the Fun%" campaign, with Rent the Runway for a social and charitable campaign, and with Hotels.com on a four-part YouTube docu-series. Plus, with Pride Month coming up in June, Van Ness could help Getaround appeal to the LGBTQ community. Smirnoff, for example, utilized Van Ness at the 2018 NYC Pride March.