From Air Bed and Breakfast to Airbnb: A Digital Inspiration
Founded in August 2008, Airbnb started with an idea of putting an air mattress in the founders’ living room and converting it into a bed and breakfast in order to compensate the high rent of their apartment. This service was then called ‘Air Bed and Breakfast’. The three co-founders, Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk launched a website Airbedandbreakfast.com. In a few years, this small experiment by three ordinary guys led to the extraordinary growth of the hotel industry disruptor, Airbnb.
Airbnb is an online marketplace for arranging or offering accommodation, primarily homestays, or tourism experience, has a consumer-end approach. It has cleverly designed its campaigns on social media in order to generate brand awareness. Due to its UX approach, the company presently maneuvers in around 15 countries and has enlisted more than 4 million people to host strangers in their homes.
The main reason contributing to the growth of Airbnb is its successful digital media campaigns. The creative digital media marketing strategies with the notion that ‘anything is bookable’ has transformed Airbnb into a brand name and household name to book lodging.
We look at its growth through its digital presence:
1. Interactive Social Media Platforms
Airbnb, a strong believer of storytelling, regularly posts interesting stories of travellers and hosts along with photos and videos on their social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Blogs etc.
2. AirBnb’s Blogs
‘blog.airbnb.com’ is an informative chronicles for travellers. It has been divided into different sections; Local Lens section is dedicated to individual narratives where there are posts about cities and their unique cultures, must-visits and must-dos in each city. The Wanderlust section mentions how to feel comfortable and travel like a local in different cities. There is a section on Airbnb Events and Community Stories.
3. Create Airbnb
Airbnb underwent a massive rebranding effort in 2014. They created a new logo and named it Bélo. However they believe that the Airbnb experience is too diverse and distinctive to be represented by one traditional logo.
So they gave creative control to the travelers and hosts. Users can visit Create Airbnb to customize the symbol by changing its color and shape, adding icons, or weaving patterns into the existing logo. They can even sketch and paint a symbol that reflects their experience. The symbol can even be brought home in form of merchandise like mugs, thank you cards, souvenir stickers. This helped strengthen the consumer and brand bond.
4. Simple and Interactive App Design
Airbnb app is one of the most easiest apps to navigate and access the desired content. The home page provides an intriguing experience of long scrolling which includes search bar, guidebooks, recommendations etc. while the footer contributes in the access of more areas of the app.
5. Community-Based Campaigns
‘Live there’ Campaign: Airbnb’s ‘Live There’ campaign was about the perception of traveling in a new dimension and communicating the unique value Airbnb offers to travelers. The ‘Live There’ campaign, launched in 2016, focuses on user-generated content by letting its users shoot videos and post on their social media handles with the hashtag #LiveThere, showcasing their unique traveling experiences with Airbnb.
‘We Accept’ Campaign: In 2017, Airbnb launched ‘We Accept’ Campaign in response to the accusations that some of its hosts were discriminating against guests on the basis of race and gender. The company introduced a nondiscrimination policy on their site and promoted their long-held values of community-led and culturally diverse travel and to reduce discrimination and create the world anyone can belong to.
‘Keep Traveling Forward’ Campaign: The Campaign was launched in 2018 to fight against the travel ban imposed by Donald Trump. It focused on the idea of global community and stated, “To limit travel is to turn back progress”.
