#BringTheMagic
CONTENTS
1
ABOUT Airbnb
12
CAMPAIGN Storyboard
2
#BelongAnywhere
13
CAMPAIGN Advert
3
VISUAL
14
CONCLUSION
4
CONSUMER Research
15
RESEARCH Methodology
5
CONSUMER Research
16
APPENDIX
6
EXPERIENCE
17
BIBLIOGRAPHY + References
7
VISUAL
8
INTRODUCING #BringTheMagic
9
Big Idea
10
VISUAL Inspiration
11
CREATIVE Concept
Manisha Pannu N0505543 Fashion Communication and Promotion - Level 2 Communication and Message FASH20031
1
In August 2008 Airbnb was founded by Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, who came up with the initial concept of being able to offer a short-term living space for thrifty tourists. They identified an obvious yet unnoticed gap in the market with the likes of ‘couch surf’ being the only other brand moderately similar, and therefore were able to branch out of the current saturated market. Soon after, the third co-founder of what was first known as Airbed & Breakfast, Nathan Blecharczyk, joined the business. The purpose of the site is for the general community to act as ‘hosts’ and ‘guests’ by advertising their own personal space as accommodation for then people to book online. For people who were thousands of miles away, were made to feel right at home. It enables communities to connect with one another and experience a more authentic view of a place rather than their perception of it. ‘Hosts’ become friends and can even show their guests around their local towns/cities, enabling travellers especially to get the most out of their trip. With now having over 800,000 cities and 192 countries listed, it is growing rapidly year in, year out with the success stories of peoples’ experiences. Airbnb is no longer just about being ‘The next ebay’ (a convenient and cheaper option); It is now a place to go for a life changing experience with the likes of castles, igloos, tree houses and many other diverse listings available to book.
2
‘#BelongAnywhere’
is Airbnb’s new mark and identity. Belonging is such a big part of life, whether it be belonging in a group, association or even a family, it gets taken for granted day by day. With the likes of ‘Generation Y’ being born and being more social media savvy than ever means that you no longer belong to a human race, but to a computer screen. Those feelings of belonging were displaced by impersonal ‘tweets’ and ‘texts’. Linking this to travel and tourism, people stopped exploring other cultures and displaced this for impersonal travel experiences provided by the saturated market with their deals on conventional hotels and added tour guide. Airbnb changed this as they ‘aren’t just financial, they’re personal’. Airbnb want all their guests to feel like they go from one home to then get welcomed into another with hosts there to ensure they get the most out of their experience.
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CONSUMER Research Although Airbnb is said to be aimed at everybody, there are flaws in the system. After having conducted some of my own primary research, I realised majority of people I asked that were aged 28-35 said they would happily travel with Airbnb with their partners but wouldn’t take their children due to safety concerns. Rebecca Hunt, A supervisor at Oasis Fashion expressed her concerns on bringing her 3 year old daughter to an Airbnb booked holiday. Her views were that it would be a great weekend experience for her and her partner or even great for city hopping when she was a teenager but not to bring her child. She felt Airbnb wasn’t portraying a particularly child friendly image conceptually or aesthetically, as she didn’t have trust in the credibility of hosting. Putting her entire trust in a host who she didn’t know, made her feel uneasy about the outcome of the experience and safety of her child.
‘A Google study (*Google ZMOT Handbook) shows that, on average, across all categories, shoppers use 10.4 sources of information to make a decision’ , this includes watching TV ads, looking up companies websites and reading reviews. This information supports the further primary research I did into consumer experiences posted on social media and the negative effect it has on the brand and peoples perception. Guests’ display their disappointment on social media of their experiences with Airbnb, appalled by the conditions of their accommodation’s or the clash in personalities with their hosts. This doesn’t create a child friendly image around Airbnb as a brand. In spite of this, I learnt that there was an obvious yet unnoticed gap in the consumer market for Airbnb as they’ve nailed business professionals, budget minded tourists and couples to a ‘T’, but not young families. Young families would rather invest their money to a week at Disneyland where not only are they feeling welcomed by the child friendly and fun brand image, but their surrounded by this idea of bringing the magic to their holiday for their children. This is an example of families buying into the experience and not just the holiday. This is what Airbnb is lacking. They have become the all-rounder’s in establishing what it means to feel like you belong, and the importance of it; but what they lack is creating that credible, magical and trusted experience so that families feel they could pick Airbnb over Disneyland any day. Airbnb have the great foundations to begin families journeys with diverse listings such as house boats, castles, tree houses and igloos, but it’s all well and good booking something then getting their and it has nothing to offer but the bricks and mortar. Families and children want an unforgettable experience and this is what Airbnb’s new campaign is going to focusing around…bringing the magic.
5
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OFFER AN EXPERIENCE
‘Online sales in the UK grew by an impressive 16% in 2013, taking the total revenue generated to £107bn. A further 17% growth is expected for 2014’ . These figures show the impact that social media is having on today’s society as it is the ‘go to’ and most convenient option for most people. This puts Airbnb in good stead as they work from this particular platform and therefore can develop this notion of belonging more and incorporating it into a virtual experience to gain brand credibility. ‘Virtual reality is set to take the customer experience to the next level with leading companies’ and be one of the upcoming trends for 2015. This will open up original and engaging ways of shaping the customer experience which was identified to be something that Airbnb lacked from my research. Linking this upcoming trend in with Airbnb’s new campaign to create a more child friendly brand image aesthetically and conceptually can be done by changing the visuals of the website. Rather than viewing images of different accommodations, the website could take you through a 360 degree motion on their screen of the place, making it seem a lot more credible. This would enable consumers to visualise the magical experience they would be getting from booking with Airbnb, and links in with what my new campaign is proposing.
AUTHENTICITY
COMMUNITY
DISCOVERY
7
HUMANITY
ACTION
CULTURE
EXPERIENCE
8
INTRODUCING
#BringTheMagic
9
My concept stems from the previous campaign launched by Airbnb about being able to #BelongAnywhere, but introduces this notion of credibility, experience and being a family brand. I want this idea to empower their existing community to grow this idea of belonging and turn it into something a lot more meaningful than it already is. I will demonstrate this with the likes of ‘Virtual reality’ through Airbnb’s online presence and make it harder for distrusting and non-credible hosts to put up accommodation by enabling a filtering system. Any users without a 70-100% positive feedback rate will be taken of Airbnb making it a more credible and trusted product and a safer brand for families to endorse in. Hosts will be then asked a series of questions as to how they will contribute to their guests experience and make it ‘magical’, so that users can find an experience and location more specific to their family’s needs. This could benefit hosts in many ways as they could begin their own business within Airbnb, as in theory they will be event planners for their guests creating their whole holiday package. Without taking the essence away from the brand with it being a ‘go to’ for thrifty tourists and city hoppers, the website will stay the same but will have a separate tab which will direct you to ‘#BringTheMagic’ which will be the campaign I am proposing. This will take my new audience (young families), to another world of hosts with an experience and adventure to offer. This also links in this sense of belonging as it is a personal experience for every user. ‘#BringTheMagic’ is the hashtag I want to be used for Airbnb’s online presence so it becomes a phenomenon and gains publicity from people posting up their photos or experiences from the campaign being launched. It can also spread positivity as the hashtag in theory will create a community of people, linking in the main notion of belonging where this all stemmed from originally.
10
I will translate my big idea into a creative concept by creating a digital campaign for a print and broadcast advertisement. For the broadcast advertisement I took inspiration from the Disneyland trailers and how they portray happy families and child friendly activities and visuals. I would incorporate all of this in to my Airbnb campaign advert. A lot of my inspiration came from Walt Disney as I wanted to see how they created their trusted and credible brand image to then integrate into my campaign. A lot of their visuals are based on a magical fairy-tale and this is what I’m going to show in my broadcast advert. Having looked at various broadcast adverts including Lapland Christmas trailers, MGM and Universal Studios trailers, I realised animation and again fairytale and magic play a huge role in enticing the younger consumer and parents. Also, another huge success within all of these companies are the continuous tone of voice and theming throughout. ‘If you have a “voice”, make sure it’s present throughout your entire business. This is basically saying that in my campaign if I had a joyful and magical advertisement but overlay it with rock music, it would condescend one another. This means it is vital to have the appropriate music, typography and visual imagery in my broadcast and print advert; tying them in together. I aim to create a friendly, fun and family atmosphere which is in theory what the new audience will be more likely to buy into.
VISUAL Inspiration + CREATIVE Concept
11
The advert will begin with a visual showing a birds eye perspective of the world spinning 360 degrees with no life or colour. An Airbnb fairy then flies over the world and sprinkles dust over the world bringing it to life. There will be markers at loads of countries in the world where Airbnb accommodate for and the advert will zoom into each of these locations showing the wonders, joys and adventures they bring. An example of this is zooming into the North Pole where an igloo stands and a family are having fun with animals and taking part in fun activities. This will translate positivity and change the brands ethos to not only being a belonging and affordable brand but a family, caring and trusting one too. At the end of the advert I will show the hashtag ‘#BringTheMagic’ on the screen so that it becomes recognisable to all new and existing users and creates a hype and buzz; making people wonder what this new campaign is proposing for Airbnb’s future. Similarly, the print advert will follow the same concept and will be the Airbnb logo manipulated into a magic fairy holding a wand over a world sprinkling magic dust all over it. The hashtag will also be displayed on the image in this instance too; creating brand awareness and awareness for the campaign.
12
CAMPAIGN Outputs
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CONCLUSION
In conclusion, Airbnb have the chance to creatively empower their new and existing users with this notion of not only belonging which Airbnb already understand and champion, but to create a safe and fun experience for families who weren’t as inclined to the brand initially. My primary and secondary research helped me identify Airbnb’s current consumer and where there was a gap to target; this being young families with young children present. I came to this conclusion from interviewing various aged people and noticing that the majority who wouldn’t consider Airbnb were young families with very young children to consider. Their reason behind this choice was the fact that a lot of consumer experiences online stated haven’t always been positive and the safety of their children was at the forefront of their minds. It was the whole notion of not knowing who their host is and not being able to trust the outcome of their holiday. I’ve eliminated this notion of distrust via the filtration system I have included in my new campaign in which enables users to comment and rate their stay with hosts and if hosts don’t meet the 70% satisfaction rate, their listing(s) will be taken off the website. This filters out any distrusting or non-credible users which will hopefully create a safer environment for families with children and categorise us as a family brand. By doing this, families will feel more inclined to choose us over big hit family holidays such as Disneyland as its now not only an affordable, but safe holiday. I feel the campaign will be a huge success as it’s completely different to what Airbnb are currently offering but isn’t veering away from the foundations of the brand which is to be an affordable site for people to connect and travel. The hash tag will also create great brand identity for Airbnb making it more credible and trustworthy. Overall, I think ‘#BelongAnywhere’ alongside ‘#BringTheMagic’ work really nicely hand in hand as they stem off from one another and branch out to a new audience without forgetting the initial brand identity.
15
RESEARCH Methodology RESEARCH Methods
Books
Online Reports
Interviews
Amount Purpose
3
7
3
Strenghs
Weaknesses
Outcome
To Collect Valid and Credible Information to help prove my idea along with theories of my chosen field. Also to help me analyse the current marketing strategies of Airbnb
You are able to find studies that have already been explored and analysed. Is credible data and easy to understand.
May not be as up to date and therefore no longer credible or relevant to the study.
It gave me a lot more understanding on brand credibility and how to gain a brand with a trusting reputation.
To gather more insight and stratistics on my chosen field to back up my new audience and concept.
Usually more up to date and easily accessed. Having online access also gives a wider spectrum of information to work with.
Credibility is never really certain with online information depending on where you sourced it from. Also, it could be an opinion stated and not actually a fact.
To help collect some primary research of peoples’ honest views on Airbnb and to help determine a gap in the market for a new audience.
Unique information that youve collected yourself to gain further and more accurate insight. Helps you go into it in as much detail as you like because its Primary Research.
Time consuming process and depending whether the interviewee gives an honest opinion then depends on how accurate your results are.
. Allowed me to view a lot of primary research on current target markets and the new audience I was trying to reach out to. It also gave me more insight on competitors.
Gained usefull information from my target consumer which helped me lead to the idea of my campaign and develop from that.
APPENDIX
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BIBLIOGRAPHY17 4 Strategies Disney Uses to Create Freakishly Loyal Customers. (2015). [online] Available at: https://blog. kissmetrics.com/create-freakishly-loyal-customers/ [Accessed 10 Jan. 2015]. Cadwalladr, C. (2013). Airbnb: the travel revolution in our spare rooms. [online] the Guardian. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2013/sep/16/airbnb-travel-revolution [Accessed 10 Jan. 2015]. Chesky, B. (2014). Belong Anywhere - Airbnb’s new mark and identity. [online] The Airbnb Blog - Company news, tips, and features. Available at: http://blog.airbnb.com/belong-anywhere/ [Accessed 3 Jan. 2015]. I-AM, (2014). Trends in Retail Design and Branding - I-AM. [online] Available at: http://www.i-amonline. com/trends-retail-design-branding [Accessed 3 Jan. 2015]. Rigby, C. (2015). 2015 TRENDS How will customer experience develop and change in the year ahead?. [online] Internet Retailing. Available at: http://internetretailing.net/2015/01/2015-trends-how-will-customer-experience-develop-and-change-in-the-year-ahead/ [Accessed 5 Jan. 2015]. Airbnb, (2015). Holiday Rentals, Homes, Apartments & Accommodation - Airbnb. [online] Available at: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/ [Accessed 7 Jan. 2015]. Bergström, B. (2008). Essentials of visual communication. London: Laurence King Pub. Rowan, W. (2002). Digital marketing. London: Kogan Page. Young, J. (2003). A technique for producing ideas. New York: McGraw-Hill.
REFERENCES
4 Strategies Disney Uses to Create Freakishly Loyal Customers. (2015). [online] Available at: https://blog. kissmetrics.com/create-freakishly-loyal-customers/ [Accessed 10 Jan. 2015]. Cadwalladr, C. (2013). Airbnb: the travel revolution in our spare rooms. [online] the Guardian. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2013/sep/16/airbnb-travel-revolution [Accessed 10 Jan. 2015]. Chesky, B. (2014). Belong Anywhere - Airbnb’s new mark and identity. [online] The Airbnb Blog - Company news, tips, and features. Available at: http://blog.airbnb.com/belong-anywhere/ [Accessed 3 Jan. 2015]. I-AM, (2014). Trends in Retail Design and Branding - I-AM. [online] Available at: http://www.i-amonline. com/trends-retail-design-branding [Accessed 3 Jan. 2015]. Rigby, C. (2015). 2015 TRENDS How will customer experience develop and change in the year ahead?. [online] Internet Retailing. Available at: http://internetretailing.net/2015/01/2015-trends-how-will-customer-experience-develop-and-change-in-the-year-ahead/ [Accessed 5 Jan. 2015]. Rigby, C. (2015). 2015 TRENDS How will customer experience develop and change in the year ahead?. [online] Internet Retailing. Available at: http://internetretailing.net/2015/01/2015-trends-how-will-customer-experience-develop-and-change-in-the-year-ahead/ [Accessed 9 Jan. 2015]. Airbnb, (2015). Holiday Rentals, Homes, Apartments & Accommodation - Airbnb. [online] Available at: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/ [Accessed 7 Jan. 2015]. D&AD, (2015). Cookies. [online] Available at: http://www.dandad.org/en/cookies/ [Accessed 3 Jan. 2015]. Facebook.com, (2015). Rebecca Hunt | Facebook. [online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/
#BringTheMagic