Turo’s latest campaign, in partnership with ad agency L&C, reminds travelers that the car they book should be the car they drive.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, UNITED STATES, July 9, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Anyone who’s rented a car knows the feeling. You reserve the sleek SUV shown online, wait in line at the rental counter, and drive away in something completely different.
Turo, the car rental marketplace, is giving that all-too-common experience a name.
Today, Turo launches “Carfished,” a new global campaign created with independent award-winning creative agency, L&C, that shines a light on one of traditional car rental’s biggest frustrations: booking one vehicle but receiving another. Borrowing from the familiar idea of being “catfished,” the campaign introduces “carfished” as the feeling of expecting one car and ending up with something entirely different.
Through the campaign, Turo highlights a feature of its marketplace model in which travelers reserve a specific vehicle offered by an individual host, rather than selecting a vehicle category. The campaign contrasts that experience with the vehicle substitutions that can occur through traditional rental models. That guarantee is especially valuable as more than half of Americans have plans to hit the road for their summer vacations this year, and nearly all of those travelers expect to be in the car for at least 10 hours.
“The traditional rental car industry has spent decades conditioning travelers to accept the bait-and-switch as a standard cost of business. We’ve all experienced that dread at the counter—showing up only to be handed a completely different vehicle than the one we booked,” says David Corns, Chief Marketing Officer at Turo. “With Turo, the exact car you rent is the exact car you get.”
“The beauty of this campaign lies in the insight,” said Gian Carlo Lanfranco, Co-Founder and Co-Chief Creative Officer at L&C. “Almost everyone has experienced the disappointment of arriving at a traditional rental counter only to be handed a car that looks nothing like the one they booked—smaller, older, or simply different. We’ve all been ‘carfished’ at some point. By tapping into that universal experience, we’re able to highlight a benefit that aligns with Turo’s marketplace model. We believe it’s a simple, relatable idea that can resonate with audiences around the world.”
The campaign also extends to social media. In one example, TikTok creator Regional Jet Regular shared a video describing an experience in which the vehicle he received from a traditional rental company differed from the one he had reserved. Turo later worked with the creator on a follow-up video featuring a vehicle booked through its marketplace.
“Carfished” launches across Turo’s key global markets and will appear across digital video, connected TV, social media and online channels. The campaign continues the company’s broader brand platform highlighting its marketplace model, in which travelers reserve a specific vehicle rather than a vehicle category.
Emma Swanson
L&C
+1 716-225-1186
emma@lc-nyc.com
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