Airbnb

PHOEBE REID N0495186 COMMUNICATION AND MESSAGE

CONTENTS

1-2 ABOUT AIRBNB 3-4 NOTIONS OF BELONGING 5-6 TARGET AUDIENCE 7-8 AIRBNB STUDENTS 9-10THE DIGITAL CAMPAIGN 11-12 PRACTICALITIES OF DIGITAL CAMPAIGN 13-14 STUDENT MARKETING 15 WHERE NEXT?

ABOUT AIRBNB

AIRBNB ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN A OVER THE NEXT 12 MONTHS AS WELL 10% OF BUDGET HOTELS TAKINGS

AT A SIMILAR RATE L AS ACQUIRE S

FIGURE 4

ABOUT AIRABNB With the economical landscape constantly changing, it is evident new businesses are making consumers think differently about the choices they have to make. Brands such as Airbnb and Uber have begun to thrive through the fairly new thinking idea of a ‘sharing’ economy. Essentially Airbnb is a room letting website where anyone on the web can rent a room or rent out a room. It is a community of hosts and travellers who embrace the idea of sharing, hospitality and human connections worldwide. With 400% growth over the last 12 months, Airbnb are expected to remain at a similar rate over the next 12 months (The Daily Telegraph, 2012) as well as acquire 10% of budget hotels takings. (The Economist, 2014) Currently Airbnb are the dominant brand within the room letting market. Regular user Jose Roberto Barros states that within 24 months his Orlando property has 105 bookings with Airbnb in comparison to competitor Roomorama that has 1 booking a year. At its core, Airbnb is attempting to sell and underpin its product through an ideology based on the concept of belonging however I aim to review the power of belonging and extend this concept that not only epitomises this idea of belonging but will also position the brand literally at the feet new target audience.

BELONGING

ONE KEY INSIGHT FOCUSED ON THE IDEA OF BELONGING TO A GROUP

FIGURE 5- MY PHOTOGRAPHY

BELONGING With the core ethos based on the notion of ‘belonging’ it is important to understand how belonging can be used in Airbnb’s campaign to target a new audience. It remains important to consider the multiple ways in which this term can be interpreted. According to Yuval Davis (2006) the notion of belonging can be understood by/at three major analytical levels. We need to consider Davis’ idea of social locations, which refers to the way in which people can belong to a particular gender class, nation or that they belong to a particular age group kinship group or a certain profession My digital campaign will capitalise on the interpretations and emotional attachments specifically of 18-22 year old students. This report will explore how ‘belonging’ can be understood in terms of the perceptions as to what being a member in such a group might mean. This is framed within Yuval Davis’ (2006) discussion on identity narratives, which she observes can be both individual and collective. I also carried out my own secondary research to see how consumers interpreted the word ‘belonging.’ One key insight from the respondants generally focused on the idea of belonging to a group be it a university, a club, a society or even a family. My campaign focuses on accommodating the multiple ways in which belonging and a longing to belong appears within the target audience of students. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs particularly addresses this, where belonging is an integral part of life in which feeling a sense of welcome or belonging is necessary to survive, feel valued and succeed.

FIGURE 6- MY PHOTOGRAPHY

FIGURE 7- MY PHOTOGRAPHY

TARGET AUDIENCE

TARGET AUDIENCE When selecting my target market it was crucial to underpin Airbnbs current market positioning. It is probably surprising to find out that the average age of an Airbnb consumer is 55+ (The Daily Telegraph, 2012) which considering that accessing the brand is totally reliant on the web, and as recent research tells us 42% of over 55’s have no web experience it is astonishly successful in its currently restricted market (Gfk NOP, 2011)In fact the paradox is clear to see where 99% of 18-24 year olds are comfortable on the internet (Marketing Minefield, n/a) they only count for 7% of Airbnbs consumers. (The Daily Telegraph, 2012) This knowledge led me to start focusing on students as a target audience. To try and gain a better understanding of this market I conducted a survey which showed that 66% of respondents said they would travel during or after university. An upbeat report from BAM, (The Uks leading student marketing agency) also claim that ‘the student market is alive and well packed with 2.5 million experimental, enthusiastic and engaged young people with an estimated spending power of more than £15.5 billion’. It also provides a great opportunity for brands to begin relationships with consumers that are hungry for new products and services. I have utilised this research to create as ‘big idea ’and new marketing strategy, which aims to focus our attention towards what I perceive to be a new market.

THE ‘BIG’ IDEA

THE ‘BIG’ IDEA The ‘big idea’ behind my digital campaign is to create, provide and position a new student platform within Airbnb. This idea aims to grow a student community where consumers feel they belong to an age group and identification. This will build on the existing ‘multiple communities’ operating within the social context of a university and will extend to incorporate a link and identity with Airbnb.

Expanding on from my big idea there will be two main features. The first is to create feasible travelling for university students by forming a network of partnerships between local businesses and AirBnB. Conventionally the period after university is often aimed at seeking secure forms of employment to the detriment of travelling desires. My idea considers employment and travelling not as mutually exclusive but able to be combined. This network of businesses will enable students to work to fund their travel during or after university. It could be looked at as a university job club with a suitable APP that allows the student to find immediate work and the hours then accredit his/hers Airbnb account. Airbnb could incentivise this by providing good deals – extra points for unsociable hours worked. The consumer will feel valued as part of a corporate network between AirBnb and local businesses. The partnership will equally provide businesses with a flexible but motivated work force.

The second is allowing students around the world to use Airbnb Students as a room exchange site. From my focus group it became apparent that most student houses are unoccupied for at least 8 weeks of the contract. Allowing students to exchange houses/halls with students in other countries will be a cheap and affordable way of travelling. We aim to grow partnerships between student halls all over the world enabling a safe way for this exchange to take place.

This way my big idea addresses the concept of belonging as travelling becomes more accessible to different groups of people. It addresses Yuval Davis’ (2006) concept of multiple axis of belonging and different ways this will accommodate students that can perhaps not afford the conventional forms of recreational travelling.

ENGLAND

FIGURE 8

USA

FIGURE 9

THE DIGITAL CAMPAIGN

THE PACKAGE 3 LUCKY WINNERS WILL RECIEVEFIGURE 10- MY DESIGN

THE DIGITAL CAMPAIGN My creative concept, was developed from the foundations of this big idea.

My advert will focus on launching Airbnb Students as a brand opposed to the features of the brand. As 71% of people surveyed (Reid, 2014)claimed they had never heard of Airbnb its important to creative an advert that has the potential to go viral and be shared around the world. John Siracusa Ceo (2013) at mOSa ebank marketing service states that ‘The most powerful way to build a brand is to connect with customers on an emotional level. Consumers respond to human, emotionally driven content, and they’re likely to share that kind of content with others”. (Siracusa, 2013) This was my thinking behind this digital advert idea.

The notion underpinning the advert is quite simple, the intention is to create, capture and share the raw emotions and delights of 3 student narratives all who move into their halls for the first time to find a ticket which gives them the opportunity to go on an all paid Airbnb holiday with one friend. The advert will start by creating emotion by secretly filming the student’s whole day from packing up at home, saying goodbye to friends and family to actually moving into the halls and finding the Airbnb branded box with the ticket in. Leaving home for the first time is usually tough so we feel this advert will portray a sense of belonging and etch the brand into consumer’s brains as well as build a positive image. John Hegarty (2011) states ‘The first lesson of branding is memorability.

It’s very difficult buying something you can’t remember’ therefore using university students in the advert should create a connection between the brand and our target audience resulting in the advert being remembered and shared amongst them.Using actual people instead of actors brings a sense of reality to the advert and a natural element that the consumer can relate to. I also feel that basing the advert around a university concept will really relate to our target consumers with the aim that it will then be shared among them.

Not only will the brand logo be placed on the box during the advert it will also end with the Airbnb Student logo so that it becomes the last thing consumer remember.

My creative concept was innitaily inspired by the types of TV programmes that are popular with students at the moment. These are reality shows such as Made In Chelsea and The Only Way Is Essex. Consumers enjoy the real aspect to the programmes so i wanted to create something that can be spoken about.

My inspiration for this advert came off the back of West Jets Christmas miracle 2013 advert which to date has had 40,102,018 views. The advert shows passengers telling Santa what they want for Christmas only to be greeted by everything they wished for on the baggage carousel when they land. This viral advert is gripping, wonderful and resonates with people. This advert proved that if marketed correctly it could be very beneficial to a brand.

PRACTICALITIES OF DIGITAL CAMPAIGN PRACTICALITIES OF DIGITAL CAMPAIGN When discussing the practicalities of my digital campaign both where, when and how my advert will be launched cannot be considered in isolation. Students Beans believe that ‘giving the relevant message and to the right platform used, 18-24 year olds can be a highly engaged audience for brands’ (Marketing Magazine, 2013) Therefore the initial advert will be placed on multiple social network platforms, however as 97% of students (Marketing Magazine, 2013) are connected on Facebook, this platform shall become our focus. Facebook is a great opportunity for the advert to become viral down to the like or share feature allowing as many consumers as possible to connect with it. Our strategy is to purposely divert away from mass media channels such as TV as consumer habits show students now spend more time online than they do watching TV. (Marketing Magazine, 2013) It is also a much cheaper form of advertising when considering a 30 second advert on TV will cost you £55,000 plus on ITV2 (ITV, 2011) as apposed to being free on Facebook.

The advert will be filmed in September of 2015 allowing around a 4-day window to edit the footage. The turnover period has to be rather rapid, as the advert will need to be launched on social media platforms before the fresher’s fairs where we shall be continuing our extensive promotional campaign. Launching it at this precise time will hopefully allow our target audience to engage with the advert as many will be able to relate to the environment in which we’ve placed our advert.

CONSUMER HABITS SHOW STUDENTS NOW SPEND MORE TIME ONLINE THAN THEY DO WATCHING TV.

MARKETING From here I will now move onto develop my digital campaign through the marketing strategy of university promotion. I believe this is the most important means by which Airbnb Students will be able to translate a sense of belonging to a student audience as well as the penultimate aim of increasing the amount of 1824 year olds using AirBnB. As found when conducting a focus group with students at Nottingham Trent University it became apparent that the majority of students all belong to societies. Essentially this idea involves the organisation of social events, which provides opportunities for both existing and potential AirBnB consumers to meet. This draws upon the way in which a sense of belonging is achieved through creating particular communities within the university environment. Should these events prove to be successful, the amount of consumers could continue to expand throughout the university as a result of capitalizing on ‘word of mouth’ marketing. The basis of this ‘Airbnb’ community will allow contacts to be made and experiences to be shared. This ‘club’ will be ran by student ‘ambassadors’ who perhaps have already used Airbnb.

Student ambassadors will be motivated by the same points based system which rewards their work with points that can be exchanged for Airbnb vouchers. The strategies intention is to launch Airbnb student socials into 1 university to start with. This enables us to experiment, test the market and allow any changes when expanding to further universities in years to come.

This marketing strategy has already proved successful for the brand Wagamumas. They introduced a similar strategy due to competing in a saturated market. Wagamumas ultimate aim was to reengage with students in higher education. Their approach was to take a Wagamumas van to 12 university campuses, selling noodles whist constantly blogger on social media sites. Overall this boosted student sales by 80% and proved a successful marketing technique for the brand.

MARKETING

MARKETING From the launch of our adver Airbnb Student aims to be a dominant brand at the University fresher’s fairs. Dominos are a brand that thrives off this type of marketing, giving free pizza to customers. 36% of consumers believed that dominos were the best brand at the fair down to their freebies offered (BAM, 2014) as well as our target audience. According to BAM leisure brands are in the top 10 most wanted brands at fresher fairs so this will be a great platform for Airbnb to grow and get known as a brand. Our strategy is to set up a free photo booth within the fair allowing customers to engage with the brand and provide an experience customers will enjoy.

The newly popular photo booths are an on going trend and will enable Airbnbstudent to put our stamp (logo) onto the photos. We believe this way it does not just consider the people at the fresher’s fair, as we will encourage customers to Instagram their posts containing the Airbnb students logo creating an even bigger buzz arround Airbnb Students.

We aim to work with BAM, the Uks leading student-marketing agency who have worked with similar brands such as Hostelworld to help continue this marketing process throughout the year at events such as graduate fairs. We feel it is important to not let go of consumers after this and feel it is just as important to keep constantly in the consumer’s faces. (Get Me Media, 2014)

FIGURE 11

LEISURE BRANDS ARE IN THE TOP 10 MOST WANTED BRANDS AT FRESHER FAIRS

The ‘big idea’ can be as big as Airbnb wish to extend to for example the following year bringing in celebrities who perhaps meet the student ‘winners’ and either present the tickets or meet the students on their travels. Evidently this would be down to finance and in many respects product image – would Airbnb wish to be associated with ‘young’ celebrities?

The brand ‘Airbnbstudents’ extends the metaphor and cements belonging through the job hub and its direct link to travelling. When students move out of home and to university, my idea provides them with the opportunity to belong to a society, belong to a new friendship group and ultimately belong to Airbnb. The advert will hopefully etch the brands identity into the consumer’s minds.

Finally, to encourage students to populate the social media with films of their experiences, their travels, their holidays Airbnbstudent would constantly offer freebies to students posting and sharing their successes. Airbnbs CEO Brian Chesky said that “If we are to be understood as a brand — and more importantly as a community — we need to communicate this idea of ‘belonging’ to the world”and i believe my concept epitomises this and has the potential to grow into a global student community.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Research methodology

Sample Aged 18-24

Purpose

Strengths

Survey

44

To get an understanding of the consumers habits of 18-24 year olds -Find out when consumers want to travel -How many consumers know Airbnb -Sites consumers use to book holidays

Developed key insights towards my big idea.

Found out crucial information about the consumers my big idea is targeting

Focus Group

6

To get a more precise understanding of the people who go to university

Gave me an insight into what happens at university in regards to the social side.

Created a new idea for my concept after speaking.

Belonging Images

4

- To find out the first word people think when I say ‘belonging’

-Made me think of the different ways belonging can be conceptualised - Aided my campaign idea

Weaknesses

Outcomes

Effectiveness

-71% of people surveyed had never The survey aided me well when creatheard of Airbnb ing my big idea. It underlined a key -69% of people surveyed use the target audience for Airbnb. internet to book holidays -66% of people surveyed will travel during or after university

-Sometimes got carried away with the conversation and could lead me away from the purpose -Was full of girls which perhaps created a biased opinion

-Socials are on Wednesday for all types of societies -Fresher Fairs are a great form of advertising -Dominos were remembered at freshers week -Houses are unoccupied for at least 8 weeks of the contract

After conducting the survey it was really effective to meet with a group of students to ONLY discuss university life and not mention Airbnb at all.

- Does not create much information -Perhaps needed to include more respondants to get a broader understanding

- Belonging to a group eg Family or friends - To be secure in a friendship group which my concept takes into consideration - Not feeling like the odd one out

I was unsure how successful this would be however as this was my first piece of research I really began to think of different ways you could portray belonging

REFERENCES BAM. (2014). Connecting brands with students. BAM. Get Me Media. (2014). Wagamama use UK road trip to reconnect with students. BAM. Gfk NOP. (2011). Computer literacy campaign in East. BBC News England.

Hegarty, J. (2011). John Hegarty on advertising. Thames & Hudson.

ITV. (2011). Example Spot Costs. ITV. Marketing Magazine. (2013, 08 19). How brands can build and sustrain relationships with 1824 year olds. Retrieved 14 2014, 2014 from Marketing magazine: http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/1207773/brands-build-sustain-relationships-18--24-year-olds Marketing Minefield. (n/a). Student Marketing – Targeting the Student Market. From Marketing Minefield: http://www.marketingminefield.co.uk/targeting-student-market/ Reid, P. (2014). Airbnb Students. Northants: Survey Monkey.

Siracusa, J. (2013, 12 30). What Financial Marketers Can Learn From WestJet’s Christmas Miracle. Retrieved 01 01, 2015 from The Financial Brand: http://thefinancialbrand. com/35755/westjet-christmas-miracle/ Students, N. T. (2015, 01 03). Airbnb Research. (P. Reid, Interviewer) The Daily Telegraph. (2012, 09 07). Airbnb:The story behind the $1.3bn room-letting website. Retrieved 12 10, 2014 from The Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/ news/9525267/Airbnb-The-story-behind-the-1.3bn-room-letting-website.html The Economist. (2014, 04 26). Room for all, for now. Retrieved 01 03, 2015 from The Economist: http://www.economist.com/news/business/21601259-there-are-signs-sharing-sitestarting-threaten-budget-hotels-room-all

ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1,2,3,4 - Airbnb. (2014, 07 16). Airbnb Blog. Retrieved from Airbnb: http://blog.airbnb. com/belong-anywhere/ Figure 8- Youtube. (2013, 11 14). Room Tour. Retrieved from Youtube: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=1bimKYMn1f4 Figure 9- Retrieved from Trip Advisor: http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLin k-g46736-d217619-i86631505-Extended_Stay_America_Piscataway_Rutgers_UniversityPiscataway_New_Jersey.html Figure 11- BoothPix. (2012, 09 26). Your pictures. Retrieved from BoothPix: http://www. boothpix.co.uk/uk-photo-booth-hire-company/ Figure 11- Photo Crazy. (n.d.). Photobooth Hire . Retrieved from Photo Crazy: http://www. photo-crazy.com/html/photo_booth_hire_scotland.html

BIBLYOGRAPHY Books Hegarty, J. (2011). John Hegarty on advertising. Thames & Hudson.

Ingledew, J. (2011). The A-Z of visual ideas: how to solve any creative breif. laurence king.

Yuval-Davis, N. (2012). The politics of Belonging. SAGE publications ltd.

Young, J. W. (2011). A technique or producing ideas. Fontal Lobe Publishing.

Reports BAM. (2014). Connecting brands with students. BAM.

Web Articles Airbnb. (201, 07 16). Belong Anywhere. From Airbnb: http://blog.airbnb.com/belong-anywhere/ Armin. (2014, 07 17). New Logo and Identity for Airbnb by DesignStudio. From Under Consideration: http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/new_logo_and_identity_for_ airbnb_by_designstudio.php#.VLa0oBalwRk Get Me Media. (2014). Wagamama use UK road trip to reconnect with students. BAM. Gfk NOP. (2011). Computer literacy campaign in East. BBC News England.

ITV. (2011). Example Spot Costs. ITV. Frick, T. (2010). Return on Engagement: Content, Stategy and deisgn techniques for digital marketing. Focal Press.

Marketing Magazine. (2013, 08 19). How brands can build and sustrain relationships with 18-24 year olds. Retrieved 14 2014, 2014, from Marketing magazine: http://www.marketingmagazine. co.uk/article/1207773/brands-build-sustain-relationships-18--24-year-olds Marketing Minefield. (n/a). Student Marketing – Targeting the Student Market. Retrieved from Marketing Minefield: http://www.marketingminefield.co.uk/targeting-student-market/ Skift. (2014, 07 16). Airbnbs New Logo and website wants you to feel belonging. From Skift : http://skift.com/2014/07/16/airbnbs-new-logo-and-website-want-you-to-feel-belonging/ Siracusa, J. (2013, 12 30). What Financial Marketers Can Learn From WestJet’s Christmas Miracle. Retrieved 01 01, 2015, from The Financial Brand: http://thefinancialbrand.com/35755/ westjet-christmas-miracle/ The Daily Telegraph. (2012, 09 07). Airbnb:The story behind the $1.3bn room-letting website. Retrieved 12 10, 2014, from The Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/ news/9525267/Airbnb-The-story-behind-the-1.3bn-room-letting-website.html The Economist. (2014, 04 26). Room for all, for now. Retrieved 01 03, 2015, from The Economist: http://www.economist.com/news/business/21601259-there-are-signs-sharing-sitestarting-threaten-budget-hotels-room-all

APPENDIX Script from focus group: University Lifestyle Date of interview:05/01/2015 Interviewer: Phoebe Reid Interviewees: Bronny Embelton, Zoey Roberts, Emma Tobin, Helena Clay, Laura Leeson, Ellie Pearson Consent forms filled in: Yes ( In reflective Journal) Phoebe : How do you socialise at university?

Bronny: We tend to go on nights out, have pre drinks here, maybe go out once a week Zoey: I suppose we sometimes go for meals as a flat if we can actually decide where we want to go Helena: I belong to a society. So on Wednesday I go on socials with them Phoebe: Does anyone else belong to a society Bronny: No I didn’t get into Netball Zoey: No there was nothing there that interested me Ellie: I don’t have time with being in the police Phoebe: Are these just sports or are there other socials?

Helena: Nope there are a variety from snow sports who go on ski trips to the fashion society Phoebe: ok so how do I find out about these? How can I sign up?

Laura: At the beginning of the year there’s a big fresher’s fair and you could write your name down there Ellie: Yeh but there were also other opportunities to join you could just go along Phoebe: So at the fresher fairs what brands/societies stood out to you Emma: The tanning shop was really good; infact we’ve got the key ring here. They set up a photo booth and could get it printed on key rings for free Ellie: Dominos were really good cause they were giving out loads of free pizza Phoebe: What kind of things do you like getting at freshers fairs Emma: Anything that free we come home with bags of leaflets, which are sometimes a bit pointless Laura: Yeh the free stuff is the best, wrist bands are sometimes cool we got a good one with cocotang Phoebe: Are you more likely to use dominos because of it?

Zoey: No I don’t like it Emma: Yeh they gave us a voucher book so every now and then we treat ourselves Phoebe: In your rented accommodation how long roughly do you leave it unoccupied?

Helena: Well when we moved in we had already had our accommodation for nearly 2 months Bronny: Yeh and then like 1 month at Christmas at least 2 weeks at Easter and then about a month when we leave Helena: I suppose it differs cause some of us come back early for sport. Emma stayed up here for her job this christmas Phoebe: How do you feel about that?

Ellie: it’s a rip off Zoey : It’s a complete waist of money

Survey on SurveyMonkey 1.How old are you?

0-16 17-22 23-30 30+ 2. Do you go to university?

Yes No 3. Would you ever consider travelling?

Yes No 4. IF YES:When would you travel?

At the end of university During university When you’re older Other (please specify) 7.How much do you spend on holidays/travelling a year? £0-£500 £500-£1000 £1000-£2000 £2000+ 6. How do you decide on your holiday/travelling?

Internet Adverts Travel Agents Over the phone Other (please specify) 7. What is your preferred method of booking your holiday?

Booking individual flights, hotels/hostels A package deal 8. If you use the internet what websites are you familiar with/use to book a holiday or travelling? e.g STA travel No.1 No.2 No.3 9. Have you heard of Air BnB? Yes No 10. Would you ever consider using a room letting website?

Yes No Maybe

APPENDIX-IDEAS GENERATION

APPENDIX-ETHICS FORMS

PHOEBE REID N0495186 COMMUNICATION AND MESSAGE