Matt Kerbel of Turo: Brand Strategy Fundamentals That Still Matter

Join host Haley Clover on CMO Weekly as she sits down with Matt Kerbel, Global Head of Brand Strategy at Turo, the peer-to-peer car sharing platform that is redefining mobility. Matt details his efforts to build a brand that lives beyond the transaction, driving culture, creator partnerships, and community-first growth in a traditionally functional category.

The Story Behind the Disruption

Matt shares his journey from a childhood fascination with psychology and sociology to a professional career dedicated to understanding people and using creativity to solve problems. His diverse background laid the foundation for his strategic approach:

Early Career: He started on the agency side before moving to client-side roles at General Mills (CPG) and Activision on the Call of Duty gaming franchise.

Challenger Brands: He led Southern California marketing for Lyft during the "early battle days with Uber" and later helped mature the MeUndies brand into a purpose-driven, inclusive community based on self-expression and self-confidence.

Joining Turo: Matt saw Turo as an opportunity for "necessary disruption" to the "less than remarkable, traditional car rental experiences". He came in to build the Brand Strategy function from scratch, aiming to apply rigor to track brand health and incorporate "deeply held human truths and insights" into the creative strategy.

Building a Household Name and Defining Success

Turo has scaled rapidly, growing from $150 million to "just shy of a billion" in net revenue. Matt discusses the strategic focus required to take Turo from a niche market player to a household name, especially given that its aided awareness in the US is still under 50%.

The Power of Humanity: A key differentiator for Turo is the humanity of the experience, with hosts building a living—from a single car to small fleets—and providing a higher level of personal care than traditional rental counters.

KPIs and Marketing Philosophy: The team focuses on the continuum of demand creation and demand capture—not Brand versus Performance. They track essential perception-based metrics like trust, safety, reliability, and value.

Cultural Marketing: Matt shares innovative examples of how they drive brand awareness, including the viral, culturally relevant Zamboni (Ice Resurfacer) rental stunt in Canada and the hyper-local Philadelphia blitz campaign, which connected real-world buzz (collaborations with Tyrese Maxey and local bands) to algorithmic conversion data.

This episode is a masterclass in brand building, challenger strategy, and how to scale a two-sided marketplace by prioritizing community and emotional connection over pure function.