Airbnb: The Champions of Event-Led Influencer Marketing

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The recently concluded Paris Olympics wasn’t just a spectacle for sportsmanship.

It was also the perfect opportunity for brands to present themselves on a global stage.

One such brand, was Airbnb.

According to sources, some 430,000 Airbnb guests — and counting — stayed in the Paris metropolitan area during the Olympics, an outcome that was “better than we ever imagined,” said Brian Chesky, chief executive officer of the San Francisco-based company. Many of them were hosted by celebrities.

But Paris wasn’t their first their tango.

And it certainly won’t be their last. Let’s discuss.

The Strategy

According to Rachel Haley (Global Connections Strategy Lead at Airbnb), celebrity influencers help showcase the desirable lifestyle and position the brand as a luxurious alternative to hotels. The organic nature of influencer marketing highlights the authentic experience of visiting a city instead of a superficial tourist experience. When you stay with a local resident like a local, you immerse yourself in the neighborhood and experience every flavor has the city has to offer. Influencer marketing authentically associates a city’s lifestyle with the Airbnb brand.

Airbnb doesn’t do a lot of sponsored posts in a year. The few that they execute are done thoughtfully. They partner with the biggest names because they want to target everyone. They achieve immense reach and fantastic results beyond any single platform.

Airbnb executes Instagram campaigns during popular sports and entertainment events. The rationale behind this is leveraging the increase in the use of social media during these events. Airbnb looks to maximize campaign visibility during such occasions.

An example of this strategy is when Airbnb provided Lady Gaga with a $20 million property in Houston during Super Bowl LI in 2017. This particular sponsored Instagram post (using the aforementioned formula) received more than half million likes and 4000 comments. Not to forget, the extensive news coverage about the celeb’s accommodation in reputed publications along with outreach to her 25 million followers.

They’ve had successful campaigns outside of events too, though.

Local Lens Series

Airbnb launched an influencer content series where experts shared local experiences people should try in their city.

They worked with local bloggers and content creators across platforms to offer recommendations on things to try in their respective cities.

Night At (South Korea)

Airbnb worked with a K-Pop artist G-Dragon on a Night At campaign to support its expansion into South Korea. A contest was held, the winner of which could spend two nights at the artist’s recording studio. This garnered lot of social media attention and a rise in Airbnb registrations in Korea.

Don’t Go There, Live There (London)

Airbnb London office designed an exclusive townhouse where visitors could experience local food and music. They offered a chance to experience “the real London”. A team of 25 influencers were tapped to spread awareness about the event on social media. Millions of people came to know about this and 1400 people visited the townhouse in the next 4 days.

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Airbnb in Paris

Did you know that the online booking platform signed a deal in 2019 — reportedly worth $500 million — to become a worldwide sponsor for the summer and winter Olympics from Tokyo 2020 through Los Angeles 2028.

Clearly, teaming up with Olympics is a major priority for them as they can seed their brand via the influencers.

It’s a win-win-win.

For the influencers, for the guests, and of course for the brand in question!

Which other influencers should Airbnb team up with to spread the word for being the largest host-led hospitality chain in the world?

You’ll have to follow our YouTube channel for that!

Until next week,

Shreevar