National Car Rental Receives 2014 CX Innovation Award

ST. LOUIS, May 19, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- National Car Rental has received the prestigious 2014 CX Innovation Award for its ongoing collaboration with consumers to deliver an exceptional customer experience. The award, given by the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA), an international non-profit organization created to guide and enhance the field of customer experience management, was presented last week in Atlanta at the CXPA's fourth annual Insight Exchange event.

For three years, the CX Innovation Awards have recognized new practices that improve customer experience, result in strong business impact, and advance the field of customer experience for other organizations. A panel of industry experts reviewed a large group of entries and selected five winners.

National was recognized for their commitment to collaborating with consumers via their Emerald Exchange Community, a private group of frequent travelers who are members of their loyalty club program. By partnering with leading collaboration agency Communispace to engage with the members of the Emerald Exchange Community, National has built meaningful relationships with their valued customers and put them in the driver's seat to innovate new products and services.

The community has influenced nearly every aspect of National's customer experience, including: refining National's Emerald Aisle program, a unique offering where Emerald Club members can skip the rental counter and go straight to selecting their own vehicles on the lot; the launch of EmeraldAlerts^(SM), email communications that include flight arrival and car return alerts; and Drop & Go^(SM), an expedited rental return service that issues an e-receipt and lets customers quickly be on their way. In addition, the Emerald Exchange community was instrumental in launching the National mobile app in August 2013, which gives customers a complete end-to-end "rental tracker" experience that follows the life of  their car rental, including directions, inventory selection, rewards, roadside assistance, and more.

"We see the members of our Emerald Exchange Community as the eyes and ears of our team," said Carol Jones, Director of Insights & Intelligence for National Car Rental. "As frequent travelers, our community members continuously visit these locations – these airports – and they come back to us with photos, videos and narratives about what they've seen and experienced. They really are an extension of our team and their insights are truly invaluable."

"For any brand, tapping into consumers' unique needs, frustrations, perceptions, opinions, and ideas, not only builds strong relationships, but often raises important questions that the brand may not have thought to ask," says Mollie Garberg, Director, Communispace. "For National, these insights have paid off – Emerald Club membership is up 27% and revenue is up incrementally. We are very proud of the team – and the community – who have dedicated their time to creating a better car rental experience."

For more information on how and why National embraced consumer collaboration, please watch this video: http://www.communispace.com/Video/VideoDetail.aspx?category=2690735&categoryName=Clients.

About the CXPA
The Customer Experience Professionals Association is a global non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of customer experience management best practices. Founded in April 2011, the CXPA has more than 80 Corporate Members and 2800 customer experience professionals in its community. For more information, visit www.cxpa.org.

About National Car Rental
Founded in 1947, National Car Rental is a premium, internationally recognized brand serving the daily rental needs of the frequent airport traveler throughout the world. With National, time-sensitive customers in the United States are able to quickly choose their own vehicles, based upon their advance reservation and requested car class, and then simply drive away from the airport. National – which launched the car rental industry's first comprehensive frequent-renter program – further expedites the rental process for Emerald Club members by offering counter bypass as well as access to National's "Emerald Aisle," an exclusive section of the lot where members can select any vehicle as long as they reserve a mid-sized car. In addition, Emerald Club members can choose to receive EmeraldAlerts^(SM) – emailed communications that include Arrival and Return Alerts, and Drop & Go^(SM) service with convenient eReceipts. St. Louis-based Enterprise Holdings, through its regional subsidiaries, operates the National Car Rental, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Alamo Rent A Car brands. For more information about National, visit www.nationalcar.com or www.facebook.com/NationalCarRental and follow @NationalPro on Twitter.

About Communispace
Communispace, the world's leading consumer collaboration agency, harnesses the power and inspiration of consumers to drive business innovation. As the fastest-growing consumer collaboration agency in the US for the last 4 years, Communispace delivers unmatched consumer engagement and business impact, with more than 700 communities launched to date and more than 1,000 innovation programs facilitated.

The acquisition of Promise Corporation in 2012 enabled Communispace to strengthen its strategic consulting capabilities and further expand its global capabilities, recruiting community members and program participants from 156 countries, or 80% of the world. 

Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, Communispace has other US offices in Chicago, New York, and San Francisco, and global offices in Amsterdam, Cape Town, London, Mexico City, Paris, São Paulo, Shanghai, and Sydney.

To learn more about Communispace, please visit www.communispace.com. Communispace is a part of Diversified Agency Services, a division of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC)

About Diversified Agency Services
Diversified Agency Services (DAS), a division of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC) (www.omnicomgroup.com), manages Omnicom's holdings in a variety of marketing communications disciplines. DAS includes over 200 companies, which operate through a combination of networks and regional organizations, serving international and local clients through more than 700 offices in 71 countries.

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SOURCE Communispace; National Car Rental