Hertz Pushes Nickelodeon With Car Rentals

Hertz is hoping to boost car rentals by offering Nickelodeon content on pre-loaded media players.

Hertz is hyping the portable, touch-screen Nick on the Go units just in time for the holiday travel season. The target audience is families on vacation. The company also expects to use the units for post-holiday school vacation periods, according to Hertz spokeswoman Paul Rivera.

“All those kids have school breaks in February,” Rivera said.

Nick on the Go carries more than 40 hours of programming from Nickelodeon and Nick Jr., including episodes of “SpongeBob SquarePants,” “Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius” and “My Life as a Teenage Robot.”

The orange Nickelodeon branded handheld units can be mounted in cars for backseat viewing. They can be recharged with a car or a/c charger, both contained in the unit’s Nick-branded carrying case.

The units will be available on Dec. 15 for $16.95 per day and weekly rates of $84.75 at Hertz airport locations in major markets including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco and Tampa.

Rivera said Nick on the Go will be heavily promoted on Hertz.com, and by Hertz phone reservation agents. A round of TV ads are also planned to plug the new media players.

They’ll be available in 25 additional Hertz markets by early next year.

Hertz and Nickelodeon plan to introduce new features next year, including Nick video games and access to Nick Web sites.