CELESTINE TAN (@celestinetan) offers unsolicited marketing advice to one of the fastest growing sharing economy startups in the world. Read full article here: http://goo.gl/pMYXsV

1. Free Marketing Advice
for Airbnb
by Celestine Tan

2. Campaign Summary
Business Objective Drive new user trial
Communication Objectives 1. Drive meaningful brand awareness -
communicate the brand’s equity and
values
2. Drive Airbnb familiarity
3. Generate campaign talkability
Audience Segment (Demographic) Everyone 18-35
Audience Segment (Strategic) “Aspirants”1
Those who are willing to pay for a glimpse of a
life they aspire to.
1. Premium is the New Economy by Celestine Tan

3. 18-35s are most likely to spend on
life experiences such as travel.
✈ 78% would choose to spend money on an
experience over a physical purchase
✈ +17% more likely to invest in an experience
versus previous generations
✈ 77% believe that the best memories are
from real-life experiences
✈ 69% believe experiences make them more
connected to other people, the community,
and the world.
✈ 70% increase in demand for real-life
experiences since 1970 Source: Millennials - Fueling The Experience Economy by Eventbrite
Important note: Study cited was conducted with an American
sample; might not be representative of the Asian population.
Audience Segment Rationalization

4. 18-35s are “Aspirants”.
They are willing to pay for a glimpse
of the life that they have been
dreaming of, the need to belong,
to be part of that world.
Source: Premium is the New Economy by Celestine Tan

5. Even if it’s just for one night.

6. Big Idea
“Belong Anywhere.”
Live the life you
(be)long to. 18-35s (“Aspirants”)
“I am willing to pay to experience
the life that I’ve been fantasizing of.”

7. Creating relevant content to bust
barriers of awareness and
familiarity, and to inspire trial.
Inspire Inform Involve
Appeal to emotion. Create brand
content around “lifestyle aspirations”
whether imagined or real. The content
should embody and communicate the
equity and values of the brand.
This would be the brand’s “Hero”
content that would generate
meaningful awareness through paid
reach and earned reach
(talkability/shares).
Create content to educate the brand’s
product offerings, and to familiarize the
audience with the brand’s approach.
This could be done in partnership with
media vendors and influencers, to
deliver the message more effectively.
This would be the brand’s “Hygiene”
content that will be relevant all year-
round.
Offer content within context that
triggers consideration and prompts
call-to-action (trial). This could also be
done in partnership with media vendors
and influencers.
This could be a standalone, or follow
right after Inspire and Inform content.
Note: Content described above are broad summaries. They are platform and format agnostic, and not mutually exclusive.
Strategic Content Framework

8. Examples of Content - “Carrie Life” targeting females. (Twitter ad copy)
Content example was made fit-for-use on Twitter; cannot be repurposed directly onto other platforms such as video. Content has to be created
specifically with the intent for use on a specific platform and not a one-size fits all approach.

9. Examples of Content - “Playboy Life” targeting males. (Twitter ad copy)
Content example was made fit-for-use on Twitter; cannot be repurposed directly onto other platforms such as video. Content has to be created
specifically with the intent for use on a specific platform and not a one-size fits all approach.

10. Inspire Inform Involve
Paid
Owned
Earned
Incremental reach and awareness via passion
point distribution, versus “travel focused”.Expand placement genres beyond “Travel”, focus on audience passion points such as entertainment (movies, music, TV shows etc.),
celebrities, fashion and lifestyle (e.g. zen, yoga, surfer). The impact is three-fold: 1. effectively break out of travel category clutter, 2. cheaper
cost of media as a result of reduced competition and 3. inspire consumers to live the life they aspire through Airbnb.

11. Inspire Trial through purposeful
alignment of touchpoints and content.
Inspire Inform Involve
Paid
Owned
Earned
Maximize inspire content across
distributors such as YouTube,
Unruly and Facebook for reach, and
syndicators such as Rightster for
earned media which facilitates
shares/talkability.
Leverage on Airbnb owned platforms with a purposeful approach, for instance Instagram to be used to Inspire,
given the visual/storytelling nature of the platform, whereas LinkedIn is used to Inform more about the business.
Google Search (SEM) is key to reach out to users that are already within the Consideration mindset, as well as
being relevant in terms of SEO. This should be part of a broader always-on strategy.
Return of investments gained via
earned media, activated through
syndication partners such as
Rightster.
Inform and Involve content could generate earned media, through sharing
of content via brand owned platforms, as well as media partner platforms
such as Buzzfeed, Yahoo! etc.
Work with media partners and
influencers to create credible
educational content around Airbnb’s
offerings - pay back to the “Live the
life you belong” proposition.
Maximize select articles with
distributors such as Outbrain.
Leverage publisher environments,
context and consumer state of
mind to inspire trial. E.g. “Playboy
life” ad copy shown alongside
articles relevant to Playboy, Hugh
Hefner, high life, dating,
Consideration → TrialFamiliarity → ConsiderationAwareness → Familiarity

12. Thank you.
Celestine Tan
celestinetan@gmail.com
@celestinetan
https://sg.linkedin.com/in/celestinetan