Airbnb's Branding Strategy: Creating a Global Community, Schemes and Mind Maps of Marketing

Download Airbnb's Branding Strategy: Creating a Global Community and more Schemes and Mind Maps Marketing in PDF only on Docsity! © Mann Global Health MARKETING CASE STUDY SERIES Airbnb DRAFT Introduction Background Airbnb started in 2008 as a way for two roommates to make a little money. The original idea – airbedandbreakfast.com – was for hosts to rent out space on an air mattress, serve breakfast, and provide local tips and insights to travelers visiting large cities during major events when hotel rooms would be scare (e.g., SXSW, the 2008 Democratic Convention, etc.). Over time, the concept and platform evolved – a simpler name, flexible concept (neither air mattress, nor breakfast, nor major conference are required) -- leading to a globally recognized brand with a presence in over 190 countries, and an estimated valuation of $38B.1 Why we chose Airbnb 1) Airbnb makes for an ideal case study to highlight best-in-class brand and marketing across all aspects of the discipline. 2) There is a wealth of publicly available information on Airbnb – podcasts with founders, business journal articles, and a book that chronicles the company’s history – which enabled us to better understand the company’s approach across multiple aspects of the business. 3) We believe that strong marketing is the result of consistently and continuously reinforcing key messages and visual assets over time. Coke, Apple, Starbucks, Nike, etc. are often cited as best-in-class brands, largely because they have consistently reinforced the same message and brand identify over decades. In contrast, Airbnb is an example of a brand that went from zero to global scale in less than 10 years. We find this merits further study, as it gives us optimism for the possibility of creating strong brands in a relatively short timeframe. Team, Trefis, “As A Rare Profitable Unicorn, Airbnb Appears to be Worth At Least $38 Billion, Forbes, May 11, 2018. 2 DRAFT 5 Overall Assessment Area Description Findings Assessment Campaign Strategy Benefit – Clear, Relevant, and Believable The benefit of Airbnb’s campaign “Don’t Go There. Live There” is to experience living in a different location not as a tourist, but as a local. This is clearly articulated in the campaign, relevant to the audience (based on the overall brand insight) and believable, as Airbnb offers the opportunity to live in a unique location and experience the culture from the hosts’ perspective. Touches the Heart and / or Opens the Mind Airbnb’s campaign invites users to rethink what it means to travel, to shift from thinking of travel as tourism, to thinking of travel as a way to live in a new location, even if just for one night. Continuity and Marketing Vehicle Selection Airbnb’s “Live There” campaign used a mix of traditional and non-traditional channels. The traditional channels (TV, video, and print) were well suited to driving awareness, while the non-traditional channels were ideal for the marketing idea. For example, Airbnb used Facebook Live to feature actual footage of real hosts in real Airbnb homes and experiences. Similarly, the company created Pinterest boards with the headline (Don’t Just Pin There. Live There). Delights the Audience Airbnb delights both guests and hosts in a number of ways. A few examples: the experience of using the app is simple and fun; the ability to sign up for local “experiences” is a unique way to discover a new location, perfectly suited to the target audience; and the brand’s quirky sense of humor is also a delight for the intended audience. Engages the Audience The nature of using Airbnb is highly engaging, but Airbnb also seeks to engage its audience in everything it does, from involving them in the rollout of the new logo, to organizing “Airbnb Open” meet ups for hosts to learn from each other and from the company, to incorporating real user experiences in their social media (e.g., Airbnb gave guests access to company’s snapchat account, allowing them to post their experiences using Airbnb). DRAFT 6 Overall Assessment Area Description Findings Assessment Measurement Message Effectiveness Data not available Program Results The company’s growth speaks for itself. After 10 years, Airbnb is valued at approximately $38B. Brand Performance While we have limited data, the “Live There” campaign demonstrated strong performance on awareness and important brand attributes. Marketing Vehicle Effectiveness Data not available Governance Processes & Decision- making The literature suggests a best-in-class approach to this practice. Airbnb leadership is recognized for listening to its stakeholders (employees, community members, investors, etc.) and making decisions based on this input, the company values, and leadership’s judgement about the best course of action. We also found examples of brand leadership at the highest levels of the organization. For example, The brand identity was developed in close partnership between Airbnb’s CEO and Design Studio (design agency), which spent three months immersing themselves in the Airbnb culture (this included traveling to 4 countries and staying in 18 different Airbnb rentals, setting up a design team within the Airbnb home office, and turning the Design Studio office into a space that felt like an Airbnb). People & Capacity Airbnb has benefited from the passion, talent, and commitment of its cofounders and expert counsel in the form of investors, advisors, and leadership team. Based on Airbnb’s ranking in the Employee Experience Index (see p 9), employee engagement is high. Organizational Structure While our information is limited to the research experience team, it demonstrates the importance Airbnb places on audience understanding, employee engagement, and knowledge sharing (researchers are embedded in product teams, researchers rotate teams every 18-24 months, and they participate in meetings to share their expertise and learn from each other). Rewards & Incentives Data not available. DRAFTMarketing Best Practices Detailed Assessment 7 DRAFT 10 Audience Understanding Audience understanding is central to Airbnb’s culture. It comes from the founders, who learned the importance of empathy as undergraduate designers at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). It also came from advice received from an early mentor, who told the founders to “go to your users,” prodding them to make weekly trips from San Francisco to New York City, where they interviewed and observed hosts in their homes. In later years, they used storyboards as a way to gain empathy and think through specific details of the user experience. Rebecca Sinclair, who was then the head of user experience and research and design (and had previously worked at IDEO), described how the storyboard process enabled Airbnb to employ “design thinking” (human centered design).1 Storyboarding Over Christmas break in 2011, CEO Brian Chesky read Walt Disney’s biography and became inspired by Disney’s use of storyboards to focus his team and create the company’s first feature film, Snow White. Chesky decided to experiment with the process at Airbnb, using the company’s data and multifunctional teams to draft and refine the Airbnb customer journey. This enabled Airbnb to understand the usage experience from the audience’s point of view, which resulted in several important strategic shifts: (1) The Airbnb product wasn’t the website, the app, or even the rental, but the entire trip; this was a fundamental shift that enabled the company to expand its offerings beyond a rental service. (2) The team learned that the trip was both on- and off-line – and that mobile was the vehicle to connect the two worlds. This elevated the importance of mobile as the primary vehicle to deliver the Airbnb experience. (3) After hiring a Pixar animator to develop three specific storyboards (for the guest, host, and the hiring process), Airbnb now uses storyboards regularly. As Chesky described, “As opposed to working out of a spreadsheet or a Google doc, this is us creating characters and starting to understand the personality of these characters.”1 The Perfect Trip Storyboard To design Airbnb experiences, the team set out to develop a storyboard of the perfect trip, which they would later use to identify the most important elements they could implement at scale (e.g., a welcoming event, a transformational experience outside one’s comfort zone, etc.). To create a compelling storyboard, however, they needed to develop empathy and understand the emotional moments of an individual’s travel experience. To do so, they anonymously recruited a traveler who would allow them to photograph his visit to San Francisco. The trip was underwhelming at best (the traveler stayed in a budget hotel, visited crowded tourist destinations, and ate at low quality chain restaurants). Airbnb used the learning from this experience to storyboard the ideal experience and contacted the traveler again, offering this time to send him on a perfect trip to San Francisco. After this second visit, the traveler left the city in tears of joy, describing the trip as “magical,” and “the best trip I’ve ever had.” The knowledge and empathy the team gained from that experience – and accompanying storyboard – became the blueprint for creating Airbnb Experiences, which are intended to create emotionally moving and memorable travel experiences. “You have to understand your customers’ experiences and ask yourself how they feel, but don’t ask your customer to tell you the solution. You are the designer. Your job is to be a deep, empathetic listener and to imagine ways to solve their problem. Take responsibility to create something better than the customer could have imagined. They are the inspiration, but you are the creator.” Rebecca Sinclair, former head of user experience research and design, speaking about the storyboard process in Fast Company2 (1 & 2) Joffrion, Emily Fields, “The Designer Who Changed Airbnb’s Entire Strategy,” Forbes, July 9, 2018. Excellent DRAFT 11 Insight Airbnb’s insight was grounded in hundreds of interviews and focus groups, and meets the requirements for an excellent insight. What’s more, it is an insight that Airbnb, as a service that enables people to book unique accommodations and travel experiences, is uniquely positioned to address. Insight The Headfirst Explorer – Airbnb’s target audience – loves discovering new places, but hates being a tourist. Excellent BAM360 team criteria for an audience insight It has tension It is true but not obvious It strikes an emotional chord It inspires the audience to think or feel differently YES YES YES YES DRAFT Marketing Best Practices – Brand Strategy Results Audience Focus Brand Strategy Campaign Strategy Measurement Governancer tr t Brand Vision – Clarity & Relevance Brand Identity – Distinctive, Reflects Brand Vision, Has a Personality, and is Executed Consistently 12 DRAFT 15 Results Audience Focus Brand Strategy Campaign Strategy Measurement Governancer tr t a ai tr t Marketing Best Practices – Campaign Strategy Benefit – Clear, Relevant, and Believable Touches the Heart and / or Opens the Mind Continuity and Marketing Vehicle Selection Delights the Audience Engages the Audience DRAFT 16 Benefit – Clear, Relevance, and Believability First Global Campaign – Don’t Go There, Live There Images clipped from campaign video: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=airbnb+don%27t+go+there+live+there Background: • Airbnb awareness was lagging competitors’ in key markets (45% vs. competitive brands at up to 85%). • As awareness grew, consideration (the # of aware individuals who would consider booking through Airbnb) did not keep up. • Many competitors were outspending Airbnb. • Airbnb had been focused on young, single travelers; yet, 50% of Airbnb’s audience had children. Campaign Objective: Increase global aided awareness AND consideration, as internal data showed a strong correlation between consideration and bookings. The benefit that Airbnb offers in the campaign “Don’t Go There, Live There” – the ability to experience a different city as a local would – is clear, relevant, and also believable. For example, whether or not the viewer has participated in a Segway tour of Paris, they can easily understand it as a typical tourist activity. It’s not something a local would ever do and is clearly for tourists. This is juxtaposed against scenes of people experiencing everyday moments that one could do anywhere (a young child building a tent in the middle of the living room), as well as everyday moments that are familiar to the host culture, but likely not to the traveler (going to a public bath in Japan). These are experiences the viewer can relate to and imagine enjoying while visiting a travel destination through Airbnb. Excellent DRAFT 17 Touches the Heart and / or Opens the Mind https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=airbnb+don%27t+go+there+live+there “Don’t Go There, Live There” is heart and mind opening because it makes the viewer think differently about travel. Travel is one of the most desired experiences, yet it is often a let down when one spends time in long, crowded lines to check off the “must do” activities in a given destination. How much more enjoyable and meaningful would it be to truly experience what it is like to live in a travel destination? The video features crowded, uncomfortable tourist activities, juxtaposed with the unique moments and small joys of daily living in a new city: cuddling on a sofa, cooking, and shopping in an open air market. Excellent DRAFT Audience Engagement The nature of using Airbnb – exploring photographs online of potential homes to rent or hosting someone in your own home – is highly engaging. And yet, Airbnb’s brand engagement goes above and beyond the basics of using the brand. For example, upon rolling out the new brand logo, the Bélo, in 2014, Airbnb encouraged their community to contribute their own designs. Over 80,000 people participated, designing and uploading their own versions of the Bélo.1 To drive engagement, brands must respond to their audience. Airbnb’s program, Share Your Space for Good (which enables hosts to open their homes to those in need), was developed in response to an Airbnb host request, proving that Airbnb listens and responds to their community.2 Finally, what better way to engage their audience – and showcase real life experiences of using Airbnb – than to enable hosts and guests to take the reins of the brand’s social media channel. Starting in 2017, each week Airbnb turned its snapchat channel over to a different host or guest.3 (1) Gallagher, Leigh, “How Airbnb found a mission – and a brand,” Fortune, December 2016, (2) Reader, Ruth, “This is how Airbnb will house 100,000 refugees in the next five years,” Fast Company, June 7, 2017; (3)“Airbnb Snapchat Takeover” All About Airbnb Fan website Excellent 20 DRAFT Marketing Best Practices – Measurement Results Audience Focus Brand Strategy Campaign Strategy Governanceudience Focus Measurement Message Effectiveness Program Results Brand Performance Marketing Vehicle Effectiveness 21 DRAFT Measurement – Brand Performance 22 Airbnb conducted a brand tracker at baseline (April 2016) and after program launch (July 2016); awareness grew between 5 - 15% among the target audience, accompanied by shifts in desired brand attributes, such as “makes me feel like I am part of a community.” 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% France South Korea US China Shift in Aided Awareness Mildenhall, Jonathan, How Airbnb built its brand by telling the world not to travel, Campaign US, Sept 18, 2017 0% 5% 10% 15% Makes me feel like I am part of a community Gives me a fresh perspective on travel Helps me feel like a local when I travel Provides access to experiences I wouldn't normally have Helps inspire my travel plan Shift in brand attributes Excellent DRAFT 25 Externalities & Governance – Processes and decision-making As a privately held company, Airbnb has relative ease of decision-making. Nonetheless, there are important stakeholders, including company advisors and investors, who wield considerable influence. Airbnb’s first major crisis, described below, demonstrates the challenge of balancing input from multiple stakeholders, and the importance of a single, accountable decision-maker. The crisis: In June 2011, an Airbnb host posted a blog explaining how Airbnb renters stole personal information and valuables, and destroyed her apartment in the process. Initially Airbnb’s customer service was empathetic and responsive, but the company didn’t have a system in place to manage the crisis. They were paralyzed; they didn’t compensate the host, they didn’t provide information about the criminal investigation, and they didn’t take responsibility for the incident. The post went viral, creating a crisis involving the media, police, and outraged Airbnb users. Following the guidance of investors and advisors, CEO Brian Chesky wrote a public statement, explaining that the company was doing all it could to address the crisis. At the same time, a different executive reached out to the unhappy host, explaining that her post was affecting Airbnb’s business, and asked her to remove it, which she wrote about in a subsequent post, exacerbating the situation. Board members and legal counsel advised the executive team to be careful about what they said and to refrain from contacting the host again. The solution: Chesky felt that the company was not behaving consistently with its values. Although stakeholders advised him to remain quiet on the subject, lest he implicate the company and bring further damage, Chesky posted a public apology. He acknowledged that the company should have acted faster and offered a $50,000 guarantee to cover property damage, available retroactively. As Chesky explained, “people were like, ‘we have to discuss this, we need to do testing,’ and I was like, ‘No, we’re doing this.’” In the end, it was Chesky’s public apology and the company’s actions to protect hosts (the $50,000 guarantee was later raised to $1M) that restored public confidence. Gallagher, Leigh, The Airbnb Story: How three ordinary guys disrupted an industry, made billions… and created plenty of controversy, 2017. DRAFT 26 Externalities & Governance – People and Capacity Expert-level advisors and leadership team While the founders themselves did not have significant business or marketing expertise, their design background (two co-founders graduated from RISD in 2004) shaped the user experience and guided the company’s approach to problem solving. A third co-founder, a software engineer, was brought on in 2008 as the technical leader. While relatively inexperienced, they benefited from expert counsel in the form of advisors, mentors, and the world-class leadership team they created. A few examples: • Early on, airbedandbreakfast.com was accepted into Y Combinator, the start-up accelerator, which offered the founders connections, resources, and expert guidance. • Reid Hoffman, co-founder and former Executive Chairman of LinkedIn, was an early investor and advisor. • Doug Atkins served as Global Head of Community from 2012-2017. Atkins is the best-selling author of The Culting of Brands. • Chip Conley served as Chief Hospitality Officer from 2013-2017, during which time he acted as mentor to the CEO and helped establish Airbnb as a hospitality company. Prior to Airbnb, Conley founded and led Joie de Vivre Hospitality (the second largest boutique hotel company in the US) for 24 years. Conley also published four books on the intersection of psychology and business, including NYT best-seller, Emotional Equations. • Chris LeHane is Head of Global Policy and Public Affairs. Lehane’s prior experience includes serving as Press Secretary to Vice President Al Gore, Special Assistant Counsel to President Bill Clinton, and Counselor to Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo. • Jonathan Mildenhall served as Chief Marketing Officer from 2014-2017. His team led the development of “Belong Anywhere” as a strategic platform, the new identity and Bélo logo, and multiple brand campaigns, including “Live There.” Prior to Airbnb, Mildenhall was Vice President, Global Advertising and Creative, at Coca-Cola. DRAFT 27 References “Airbnb’s Brian Chesky in Handcrafted,” Masters of Scale Podcast with Reid Hoffman “Airbnb - Don’t Go There, Live There,” You Tube “Airbnb Launches New Products to Inspire People to ‘Live There,’” Business Wire, April 19, 2016 “Airbnb Snapchat Takeover” All About Airbnb Fan website Carson, Biz, “How 3 guys turned renting an air mattress in their apartment into a $25 billion company,” Feb 23, 2016 The Employee Experience Index Gallagher, Leigh, The Airbnb Story: How three ordinary guys disrupted an industry, made billions… and created plenty of controversy, 2017. Gallagher, Leigh, “How Airbnb Found a Mission – and a Brand,” Fortune, Dec 22, 2016. Gurchiek, Kathy, “Patagonia, Airbnb create compelling to meet workforce expectations,” SHRM Executive Network, HR People and Strategy Blog, May 5, 2017 Joffrion, Emily Fields, “The Designer Who Changed Airbnb’s Entire Strategy,” Forbes, July 9, 2018. “Judd Antin of Airbnb,” Dollars to Donuts Podcast, Steve Portigal Mildenhall, Jonathan, How Airbnb built its brand by telling the world not to travel, Campaign US, Sept 18, 2017 Mildenhall, Jonathan, “How Airbnb built its brand by telling the world not to travel,” PR Week, Sept 18, 2017 Morgan, Jacob, “3 lessons from Airbnb on Creating an Amazing Employee Experience,” Medium, Sept 18, 2017 Nagamine, Kenta, “Don’t Go There. Live There.” The underlying message of an Airbnb ad, Dec 30, 2017 Parr, Ben, Airbnb: “We Screwed Up and We’re Sorry,” Mashable, Aug 01, 2011. Reader, Ruth, “This is How Airbnb Will House 100,000 refugees in the Next Five Years,” Fast Company, June 6, 2017. Richards, Katie, “Put Away the Selfie Stick and Live Like a Local, Urges Airbnb’s New Campaign,” April 19, 2016. Solomon, Dan, “Airbnb Gives A Glimpse Of Its “Trips” and “Experiences” on Facebook Live,” Fast Company, Nov, 18, 2016. Team, Trefis, “As A Rare Profitable Unicorn, Airbnb Appears to be Worth At Least $38 Billion, Forbes, May 11, 2018. “What We Learned From The Airbnb Live There Campaign,” Derse, Jan 5, 2017