Case study: how Avant Rent A Car transformed their digital presence.

Avant Rent A Car is a renting and vehicle rental company that contacted us in 2024 with a specific problem: they had a solid product, competitive prices and happy customers, but their digital presence communicated none of that. In this article we walk through the complete project, the decisions we took and what we've learned that's applicable to other companies in the sector.

The starting point

The initial situation was typical of the sector: an Instagram with occasional posts, stock photos and a generic tone that could be any rental company in the world. Zero identity signal. No editorial calendar. No strategy.

The most striking thing was that the product was good: updated catalogue, honest prices, personal service, 24h support. But no one knew because communication wasn't conveying it.

Phase 1 · Research and strategy

Before touching a single image, we invested two weeks understanding:

• Who the real customer is: profile, age, purchase context, concerns
• What the competition does: audited 15 direct and indirect competitor accounts
• What makes Avant different: conversations with team, customers, founder
• What measurable objectives: concrete KPIs, not "grow on social"

Three key conclusions emerged: (1) customers valued closeness and response speed, (2) competitors communicated with a cold corporate tone, (3) there was a clear opportunity to position as "the renting with human treatment".

Phase 2 · Visual identity

With strategy clear, we designed the visual system: coherent colour palette, typefaces, photographic style, and a set of reusable templates so each post had a familiar air without being identical.

Reduced palette

Corporate colours + two accents. Nothing else. This makes any post recognisable as "Avant" within three seconds.

Own photography, not stock

We organised a photo session with catalogue cars, at sunset, in recognisable city locations. Result: unique images, impossible to confuse with others.

Typography with character

One well-used typeface family communicates more than five badly combined. We chose one with personality for headings and a clean sans-serif for body text.

Phase 3 · Editorial calendar

This is the most neglected part in the sector. Most dealerships post "when they can". We designed a weekly calendar combining four content types:

Day	Type	Objective
Monday	Featured car	Show catalogue
Tuesday	Reel in motion	Reach and desire
Thursday	Educational tip	Authority
Friday	Real delivery or behind the scenes	Humanisation

Plus daily stories with variety: day details, audience questions, team greetings, workshop glimpses. Light content, consistently.

Phase 4 · Execution and adjustment

The first three months were strict plan execution and measurement. Every Monday we reviewed previous week's metrics:

• Organic reach
• Engagement rate
• Direct messages received
• Clicks to the website
• Enquiries that translated into bookings

What didn't work was discarded quickly. For example, "Monday motivational quote" posts generated zero enquiries: out. Car-in-motion reels gave triple the reach of photos: more reels.

What isn't measured isn't improved. What's measured and doesn't change, either.

What worked particularly well

Short videos with real engine sound

A 20-second reel with a sports car's startup sound, no added music, was the highest-reaching post of the first 6 months. Lesson: authentic sound sells more than any background music.

Transparency in prices and conditions

Posting "Renting X from €299/month, VAT included, no fine print" converted much better than "Renting from __. Ask for conditions". Stating the price filters good leads.

Human team content

Photo of the salesperson handing over keys with customer smiling, stories of the mechanic explaining something, posts with names. The "face behind the car" matters more than it seems.

Mistakes we made

Not everything was perfect. We share the stumbles because you learn from these too:

We wanted to post too much at the start. During the second month we reached 2 daily reels. We burned out, quality dropped and reach with it. Back to the original calendar.

We took too long to activate paid ads. 2024's organic reach was already low. We should have started with €100/month on Meta Ads from month one, not month six.

We didn't automate DM responses from the start. There were clear patterns (prices, availability, hours) that could have been answered with quick replies from day one.

What's applicable to your company

Each business is different, but the principles of Avant's project translate well to yours:

1. Invest time understanding before publishing. A week analysing your situation is worth more than a month blindly posting.
2. Create a recognisable visual system. Any post identifiable as yours in 2 seconds.
3. Have an editorial calendar. Four rotating content types. More consistency, less stress.
4. Measure what matters. Not "likes", but real enquiries and visits to your website.
5. Put face, name and personality. People buy from people, not anonymous companies.

See the complete project

You can see all the visual work developed for Avant Rent A Car in our Behance portfolio, with final designs, the template system and the Instagram grid evolution.

See the complete project on Behance →