It's the allure of Airbnb, but also its biggest stumbling block—its rental listings are not impersonal hotel rooms but actual people's homes. Some travelers embrace this, knowing they'll experience a private space that's naturally more interesting and personalized. Others—well, they'd say that staying in a stranger's house is a little bit creepy, isn't it?
In its first integrated national campaign, the self-described "community-driven hospitality company" naturally embraces the broader definition of "home"—i.e., anybody's home can be your home, too, if you have a sense of wonder and curiosity about the world.
Pereira & O'Dell in San Francisco communicates this creatively by using the metaphor of migratory birds, who call many places home. The agency had artists build birdhouse versions of 50 of the most intriguing Airbnb listings worldwide, and is displaying them from today through Sunday in New Orleans at Audubon Park's Tree of Life.
This agency, which excels at long-form feel-good video—look no further than its Skype campaign—shows off the project in the clip below, which mixes footage of the birdhouse construction with voiceover mediations on the emotionally expansive nature of travel. "What makes a home feel like a home to you?" a man asks. "When someone's individuality and personality is reflected in the design of a house," a woman replies. Each Airbnb listing is presented not merely as a property but as a story—which it surely is. (Just don't ask about the horror stories.)
Appealing to a sense of adventure and creativity is smart. And the birdhouse idea, if a little precious, meshes conceptually with the one-of-a-kind nature of the listings. Footage of all the sketching and building also provides a canvas on which Pereira & O'Dell can work up an emotional piece of film—bringing in songwriter Zach Shields to sing his song "Home to You" in a somewhat random but rousing finale.
"We created these birdhouses inspired by real Airbnb homes and the accompanying film as a metaphor for the hospitality about which our company is built," says Amy Curtis-McIntyre, CMO of Airbnb. "Our hospitality is completely individual and designed by our hosts who know that making people (or birds!) feel at home anywhere in the world comes from warmth, intuition and an attention to detail. We love the world's real travelers, and this is an invitation to travel in a new way."
The campaign will be running on TV, in cinemas and online.
CREDITS
Client: Airbnb
Agency: Pereira & O’Dell
Chief Creative Officer - PJ Pereira
VP & Executive Creative Director - Jaime Robinson
Associate Creative Director - Rafael Rizuto
Associate Creative Director - Eduardo Marques
Art Director - Rafael Rizuto
Copywriter - Eduardo Marques
VP, Client Services - Gary Theut
Account Director - Marisa Quiter
Senior Account Executive - Jen Wantuch
VP, Strategy - Nick Chapman
Director of Strategy - Molly Cabe
Associate Strategist - Beth Windheuser
Associate Strategist - Sara Lezama
VP, Media Strategy - Joshua Brandau
Associate Media Director - Jasmine Summerset
Media Strategist - Liz Wood
VP, Production - Jeff Ferro
Senior Broadcast Producer - Susan Crimley
Senior Broadcast Producer - Elisa Moore
Senior Integrated Producer - Victoria Whitlow
Senior Interactive Producer - Erin Davis
Director of Business Affairs - Kallie Halbach
Production Co: Tool of North America
Director – Alma Har’el
Director of Photography – Edu Grau
Executive Producer – Danielle Peretz
Executive Producer – Brian Latt
Line Producer – Christopher Leggett
Editorial Company: Therapy Studios
Editor – Lenny Mesina
Assistant Editor – Thomas Tedesco
Editorial Producer – Allegra Bartlett
VFX: The Mill
Title Design/Motion Graphics – Erik Buckman
Lead Artist – Tara Demarco
2D smoke artists – Tim Robbins, Robin McGloin, Scott Johnson
Producer – Jessica Ambrose
Color: Company 3
Colorist: Beau Leon
Producer: Liza Kerlin
Sound:
Sound Designers: Dror Mohar, Branden Spencer
Mix: Dror Mohar
Independent Artists:
Production Designer/Lead Artist - Joshua Stricklin
Colorist – Grace Alie
Miniature Prop Artist – Brooke Ashe
Miniature Expert – Paul Wendling
Birdhouse Specialist – Mike Bowen
Ornithologist – Carolyn Atherton
Singer and songwriter – Zach Shields