The new Hertz campaign idea might not work for your financial institution, but here’s something you can learn from it.

The Hertz rental car company introduced a new animated mascot ad campaign to tell people it’s cool to rent a vehicle from Hertz.

A lot of companies use mascots. You can’t sit through a typical TV show without seeing the Geico gecko, the Budweiser Clydesdales, or some other real or animated character that helps push the product.

I don’t know of many banks or credit unions that have mascots. But that’s not the point because this post isn’t about mascots.

No, it’s about collecting ideas.

As marketers, you and I try to keep up with what’s current in our profession and in the industry where we work. We always look for the best ways to accomplish our jobs and make our projects successful. We should both look for new ideas that keep us ahead of the competition — your competition.

You can lock yourself in a sensory deprivation chamber and hope your brain invents the next great marketing tactic, but that’s not practical. If you’re looking for something new, you can check what marketers in other industries are doing and try to adapt those ideas to your situation.

So, for example, you look closely at the Hertz mascot idea. First, you decide whether or not a mascot can work for your bank or credit union. Suppose you say no. Don’t stop there. What else is Hertz doing in the campaign that might work?

Hertz says it’s introducing the mascot to “help us re-establish ourselves as a culture brand.” Anything you can get from that reasoning?

The campaign includes two real characters, too. Can you use that idea in your advertising?

The company built a microsite, also called a landing page, for this campaign. It’s always a good idea. If prospects are forced to sort through your home page to find the promotion that led them there, they’ll likely leave. So this is an idea to write down or keep in mind.

On and on you go. Study campaigns across all industries. Look underneath the broadcast or print ad, social media or mail campaign. See what bits and pieces might work for you and build your knowledge. Get outside the confines of banking.

And, of course, read. Blogs like this, newspapers, and some news sites have immediacy that books and magazine articles can’t often match. But read about your profession. If your marketing intelligence is limited to what you learn on the job, then you’re not performing to the peak of your abilities.

So, mascot or not, what ideas can help you today?

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Mascot on your mind? Read, Does Your Bank or Credit Union Need a Mascot?

You certainly need an Idea File.

Here’s the article, “Hertz Uses Mascot in Effort to Make Rental Cars Cool.”