Cresco Connects with Customers Using Online Videos

Sept. 5, 2008
Livermore, Calif.-based Cresco Equipment Rentals recently added specialized videos to its website, www.crescorent.com, to connect to customers in the communities where they have branch locations by showing customers who the people of Cresco are and what sets the company apart.

Livermore, Calif.-based Cresco Equipment Rentals recently added specialized videos to its website, www.crescorent.com, to connect to customers in the communities where they have branch locations by showing customers who the people of Cresco are and what sets the company apart.

Cresco enlisted TurnHere, a full-service Internet video solutions provider that provides video production and distribution services; produces high-quality, low-cost Internet videos; and develops and executes plans to distribute those videos across the Internet, to create its videos.

“We were really looking to tie the stores to the towns so that people could connect to the Cresco Rentals name and to see the role we play in the community,” Chris Smith, president and managing partner of Cresco Equipment Rentals, told RER Reports. “The videos create a community feel and provide some texture by telling our story directly to the customer.”

A recent article published by The Wall Street Journal highlighted the use of online video ads as a way for small businesses to connect to customers and set themselves apart, and used the videos created by Cresco and TurnHere as an example.

“Just to have our industry recognized at all in The Wall Street Journal was really gratifying,” Smith said. “You know, for an industry that rents many of the same categories of equipment as we did 20 years ago, we’re not necessarily doing business the same way we did 20 years ago. To be recognized nationally for doing something kind of progressive is rewarding.”

Founded in 2005, TurnHere is a privately held company based in Emeryville, Calif., with offices in New York City.

Founded in 1984 by Chet Cushing in Martinez, Calif., Cresco Equipment Rentals was acquired in 1997 by NorCal Rental Group, LLC. Maintaining the Cresco name, the company then opened facilities across the Bay Area and its corporate office in Livermore, Calif. Cresco has 19 locations throughout northern California and a wide inventory that fits both contractor and homeowner needs.