Sharing sucks, at least when it comes to vacation homes, HomeAway says in a new ad—narrated by Nick Offerman—that squarely takes aim at Airbnb and the downsides of renting a room in someone else's home instead of a whole house on HomeAway.
Saatchi & Saatchi London created the spot, which goes all-in on the gross-out humor by showing various unpleasant side effects of mingling with strangers while on vacation. Weird, hairy men are a particular source of distress in the ad: One clips his toenails in public, another air-guitars by the pool, and a third—sporting a Speedo and a rug-like back—embraces fellow imbibers in a hotel bar.
And then there's the bar of soap that another vacationer encounters, covered with curly hairs of surely horrifying provenance, which cause our heroine to actually start retching.
Check out the spot in all its grody glory here:
The ad doesn't mention Airbnb explicitly. But the point is clearly to distinguish HomeAway listings, which tend to be managed properties and second homes rented for longer periods of time, from Airbnb's shorter-term rentals, many of which are rooms in larger homes.
There is only about a 10-15 percent overlap between HomeAway's and Airbnb's listings, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Offerman—an often-hairy man himself, ironically enough—was a solid choice for the voiceover, as he brings a world-weary disdain to the proceedings. And if the spot leaves you feeling like all vacation homes are probably a bit gross (not just those on Airbnb), that's a risk HomeAway is willing to take to try to slow Airbnb's incursion into its own space.
CREDITS
Client: HomeAway
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi London