disruptive start-up
to a winner brand
Disruptive start-up
It all started in 2008, with “airbnb” word mark, which was created just in two hours. But they had a big purposeful idea: ‘to invite the world home’. Only if they knew that they were going to be the future leaders of the ‘sharing economy’ and their brand would make a fundamental difference in how people spend their holidays. In 2014, with 600,000 listings in 190 countries and a $10 billion valuation, it was time to transform the brand from a start up and stake claim to an iconic brand status. Rebrand was focused on creating a movement, building a community and creating a symbol that reflects their core beliefs.
Disruptive process
DesignStudio, a London-based consultancy was shortlisted for the tough task. Airbnb was a disruptive, so was the pitch. Along with the case studies and the dedicated team they presented some blue-sky ideas. They created the Airbnb’s immersive experience in their office and even listed their office as a property on Airbnb. After securing the job, they relocated their team into the Airbnb office for two and half weeks to understand what and how they work. After interviewing 50 staff members, they dispatched four team members to stay with hosts in 30 cities all over the world for one week. This qualitative in-field research involved collecting real stories and authentic video footage of what really Airbnb is all about. They experienced the culture in branch offices of Airbnb. Back in San Francisco, an extensive co-creation and collaborative process led to many brilliant insights.
Disruptive idea
Finally a new brand idea was born. A house is just a space, but a home is where you belong. And what makes this global community (Airbnb and its customers) so special is that for the very first time, people can ‘belong anywhere’. 450 media publications covered the news all over the world. There was 45% more website page views on the rebrand launch day. Old word mark logo and had limitations of expression, adaption and communication, so the “Belo” was designed, named after the first four letters of “belonging”. Belo – the universal symbol of belonging, which emerged from an amalgamation of three shapes that embody the new pillars of the brand: people, places and love. (Source: Airbnb)
Disruptive launch
The creative control was given to the fellow travellers and hosts who create the brand everyday. People were asked to play with the logo, own it, personalise it, make a symbol that reflects their own Airbnb experience, and add it to their profile, share their stories with the community, and make new connections worldwide. A new website www.create.airbnb.com was created, that allowed some 50m different permutations of the logo, by changing the colours and patterns or adding extra stickers etc. A new community page allowed people to share their creations, along with an online store to print Airbnb stamps, bags and business cards etc. The objective was to make users feel more personally connected to the brand and to other users.
Disruptive strategy
After launch, the logo faced a huge backlash on social media. People thought it looked like sexual organs and many then created pornographic drawings that incorporated the design. Despite the criticism and jokes, Airbnb still believed in Belo. The symbol of belonging’ belonged to the people. The objective of - people owning and creating their own symbol was also achieved. They had unknowingly created a community of designers who became the primary brand ambassadors and promoted Belo to the people and media. After the backlash, Airbnb did not discontinue or take back what was given to the people, they just capitalised on the publicity, because probably they knew it was momentary and people will forget all of it, when they will be the part of the new Airbnb experience.
Disruptive experience
The newly designed homepage was tailored to the visitor’s location and made more personalised based on a customer’s past travelling history. The portal was user friendly and simple for people to find places they want to stay. They also enhanced the experience of their hosts, every micro-entrepreneur and landlord could have their own personalised business card. The ad campaign was designed to show the hosts’ stories. Service expansion was done from just booking rooms to include travel, event tickets and other experiences that people might want to have. They also incorporated a sense of belonging in their internal culture by creating an exhibition, gallery of the new rebrand in their headquarters in San Francisco, which gives an overview of entire branding process and understanding of the core purpose.
Disruptive transformation
Airbnb rebrand is an example of real transformation of a brand through the rebrand process. It’s certainly a case study for all companies who want to transform their brands to become more disruptive, iconic and lead their industry. This transformation helped a successful start-up, with an innovative business model to become a terrific winner brand.
It all started in 2008, with “airbnb” word mark, which was created just in two hours. But they had a big purposeful idea: ‘to invite the world home’. Only if they knew that they were going to be the future leaders of the ‘sharing economy’ and their brand would make a fundamental difference in how people spend their holidays. In 2014, with 600,000 listings in 190 countries and a $10 billion valuation, it was time to transform the brand from a start up and stake claim to an iconic brand status. Rebrand was focused on creating a movement, building a community and creating a symbol that reflects their core beliefs.
Disruptive process
DesignStudio, a London-based consultancy was shortlisted for the tough task. Airbnb was a disruptive, so was the pitch. Along with the case studies and the dedicated team they presented some blue-sky ideas. They created the Airbnb’s immersive experience in their office and even listed their office as a property on Airbnb. After securing the job, they relocated their team into the Airbnb office for two and half weeks to understand what and how they work. After interviewing 50 staff members, they dispatched four team members to stay with hosts in 30 cities all over the world for one week. This qualitative in-field research involved collecting real stories and authentic video footage of what really Airbnb is all about. They experienced the culture in branch offices of Airbnb. Back in San Francisco, an extensive co-creation and collaborative process led to many brilliant insights.
Disruptive idea
Finally a new brand idea was born. A house is just a space, but a home is where you belong. And what makes this global community (Airbnb and its customers) so special is that for the very first time, people can ‘belong anywhere’. 450 media publications covered the news all over the world. There was 45% more website page views on the rebrand launch day. Old word mark logo and had limitations of expression, adaption and communication, so the “Belo” was designed, named after the first four letters of “belonging”. Belo – the universal symbol of belonging, which emerged from an amalgamation of three shapes that embody the new pillars of the brand: people, places and love. (Source: Airbnb)
Disruptive launch
The creative control was given to the fellow travellers and hosts who create the brand everyday. People were asked to play with the logo, own it, personalise it, make a symbol that reflects their own Airbnb experience, and add it to their profile, share their stories with the community, and make new connections worldwide. A new website www.create.airbnb.com was created, that allowed some 50m different permutations of the logo, by changing the colours and patterns or adding extra stickers etc. A new community page allowed people to share their creations, along with an online store to print Airbnb stamps, bags and business cards etc. The objective was to make users feel more personally connected to the brand and to other users.
Disruptive strategy
After launch, the logo faced a huge backlash on social media. People thought it looked like sexual organs and many then created pornographic drawings that incorporated the design. Despite the criticism and jokes, Airbnb still believed in Belo. The symbol of belonging’ belonged to the people. The objective of - people owning and creating their own symbol was also achieved. They had unknowingly created a community of designers who became the primary brand ambassadors and promoted Belo to the people and media. After the backlash, Airbnb did not discontinue or take back what was given to the people, they just capitalised on the publicity, because probably they knew it was momentary and people will forget all of it, when they will be the part of the new Airbnb experience.
Disruptive experience
The newly designed homepage was tailored to the visitor’s location and made more personalised based on a customer’s past travelling history. The portal was user friendly and simple for people to find places they want to stay. They also enhanced the experience of their hosts, every micro-entrepreneur and landlord could have their own personalised business card. The ad campaign was designed to show the hosts’ stories. Service expansion was done from just booking rooms to include travel, event tickets and other experiences that people might want to have. They also incorporated a sense of belonging in their internal culture by creating an exhibition, gallery of the new rebrand in their headquarters in San Francisco, which gives an overview of entire branding process and understanding of the core purpose.
Disruptive transformation
Airbnb rebrand is an example of real transformation of a brand through the rebrand process. It’s certainly a case study for all companies who want to transform their brands to become more disruptive, iconic and lead their industry. This transformation helped a successful start-up, with an innovative business model to become a terrific winner brand.
