World’s Smallest Screening Room
Airbnb Asia Pacific
Issue 35 | June 2015
Agency
TBWA\Singapore
Creative Team
Executive Creative Director Edmund Choe Creative Director Gary Steele Senior Copywriter Claudia Ribeiro Art Director Raquel Ang Videographers Rohan Lorenz Teo Yi Zhen
Production Team
Photographer Teo Ren Jie Head of Production Peter Ng Print Production Manager Joanna Lim Senior Digital Imager Raul Davadilla Art Buyer Jean Abideen Studio Manager Andrew Yeoh FA Artist Fione Wong
Other Credits
Chief Marketing Officer (Airbnb) Jonathan Mildenhall Head of Communication, APAC (Airbnb Asia Pacific) Lena So¨nnichsen Head of Marketing, APAC (Airbnb Asia Pacific) Matthias Schuecking PR Coordinator, APAC (Airbnb Asia Pacfic) Elaine Teo Account Director Joyce Wong Senior Account Executive Neha Sethi
Date
February – March 2015
Background
Airbnb was one of the most dynamic and exciting start-up companies in the world. It was present in over 190 countries and had over 1,000,000 listings globally. However, in China, brand awareness was still extremely low. Even the few who had heard about the brand often did not have a clear understanding of what Airbnb was about. The task was to reach out to opinion leaders in China – travel and lifestyle journalists - and create brand awareness in a way that would educate and excite them.
Idea
The idea was to create in a box a replica of the very first Airbnb home, exact in terms of its layout and interiors. All the miniature furniture was folded and glued by hand.
Images of selected properties in popular destinations for Chinese travelers were placed on the wheel of a tiny projector thereby creating the world's smallest screening room. Each of the mini- projectors had their focus manually adjusted and were securely attached to arrive at their destination in place.
The first batch of 23 mailings were sent to top-tier travel and lifestyle journalists before the Lunar New Year to capitalize on this key travel period. After receiving overwhelming positive feedback, the second batch of 27 mailers were sent out in early March.
Results
The mailing achieved a 68% direct response rate, way over the industry benchmark. The 50 pieces generated 97 clicks-throughs to a link with Airbnb properties. The brand received numerous positive reactions from the bloggers and journalists, who described the DM as "creative and unique".
Feedback from journalists in China was so amazing that the idea was adapted for other markets across Asia.
Our Thoughts
In the PR blurb around this idea, Lena So¨nnichsen, Airbnb’s Head of Communications for APAC, said that this piece “Not only explains Airbnb’s background, brand and benefits beautifully, it also transports the sense of quirk and whimsical magic that we are always after.”
And it is quirky, it is whimsical and what’s more it is, I’ll bet, proving to be a massive success. The way to reach millions is through a handful of key influencers. But here’s the rub. Either you have to pay them money for their followers or you have to be... well, quirky and whimsical.