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Many companies have humble origins. Invoice Gates constructed Microsoft out of an Albuquerque storage, whereas Airbnb started with three air mattresses on the ground of a San Francisco loft.
It’s within the nature of success that it takes you away out of your roots. However when your model identification is wrapped up in your origin story, progress presents a strong problem to the basic values your model is understood for.
That is the state of affairs has Airbnb discovered itself in. Now not an trade disruptor, however an trade large, Airbnb has practically outgrown its origin story. So it’s reintroducing us to Rooms: staying with a bunch, and reestablishing human connection because the soul of Airbnb.
Rising Pains or Id Disaster
Airbnb’s astronomic rise gives an interesting case research in model identification, and to an extent they’ve been a sufferer of their very own success. They began out as a disruptor to the normal lodging trade and their peer-to-peer lodging mannequin appeared set to shake up the resort trade and make journey extra artistic, inexpensive, and community-based than ever earlier than.
However the platform made it extremely simple to lease out your entire residence, not only a single room inside it. And slowly, Airbnb grew into the very factor it stood towards at its outset — a platform for self-catered lodging, streamlined and stylish, positive, however not so totally different out of your common, faceless vacation lodging supplier.
After all, this has not often impacted their income, and the corporate even posted its first worthwhile Q1 this yr. However income is one factor, model is one other. And this transformation posed critical challenges to their model identification.
Undoubtedly, Airbnb was outgrowing its model. If not addressed, this might create an identification disaster that undermines the entire enterprise. An incoherent identification confuses prospects, eradicating the emotional tether to your online business and permitting rivals to vie for his or her loyalty.
That’s why the rebranding of Airbnb Rooms, and emphasizing the connection to host and group, is a genius transfer. It’s a preemptory rebrand that heads off points of name identification down the road.
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A Return to Roots: Neighborhood and Authenticity
So right here’s what Airbnb has carried out: they’ve introduced Rooms to the forefront of their enterprise mannequin, giving it a contemporary rebrand that emphasizes Airbnb’s origin story.
Rooms was Airbnb’s authentic product, supplied lengthy earlier than the location’s suppliers might set free their entire residence. It by no means left the location, however as customers most well-liked the privateness of renting a complete residence, its significance pale.
And in a video launching the rebrand, they’ve carried out all the pieces proper to emphasise the values of authenticity and group that have been on the coronary heart of the unique Airbnb.
The video introduces us to CEO Brian Chesky, internet hosting a pair at his residence. “I felt like this isn’t the Airbnb CEO’s home, that is our new good friend and host for the weekend,” they inform the digital camera.
Brian’s welcoming and private air is on the coronary heart of this rebrand, and who higher than the CEO to embody the human connection that Airbnb is attempting to inject into its platform?
Alongside the rebrand of Rooms, Airbnb has launched the “Host Passport” characteristic, letting visitors get to know their hosts earlier than they keep. It’s a wise transfer, that seeks to undermine the awkwardness of staying in another person’s residence.
The Host Passport turns the human interplay of a visitor staying with host from a weak point right into a energy and places group on the coronary heart of the Rooms product.
Airbnb is now not a disruptor, it’s an trade influencer, and with Rooms they’re in search of to reclaim an authenticity that connects with their customers. That is particularly necessary because the enterprise leans on a youthful demographic for whom authenticity is a key worth in manufacturers they belief.
Resolving Ache Factors
In addition to being an on-brand transfer that highlights their authenticity and disruptor credentials, pivoting to position internet hosting because the soul of Airbnb additionally solves a lot of buyer ache factors and wider points that the enterprise has confronted in recent times.
Within the technique of blurring the road between non-public residence and vacation residence, Airbnb created a brand new market that they couldn’t fairly management. Cities grew to become more and more Airbnb-ified as conventional housing inventory transitioned into lodging for vacationers. Whereas the true impression of this on lease and inequality is up for debate, it’s definitely been a supply of unhealthy publicity for the model.
And prospects are more and more discovering the Airbnb expertise no extra hospitable than the normal self-catering mannequin. Inflated costs, extreme guidelines, and over-the-top cleansing charges have pushed some shoppers again into the welcoming arms of the resort trade.
Re-emphasizing Rooms is a strong branding transfer for Airbnb, nevertheless it additionally tackles a lot of challenges the enterprise faces. It evades short-term rental legal guidelines being launched to fight whole-home letting and makes the Airbnb expertise extra inexpensive, personable and hospitable for its customers.
The SuN Takeaway
Given the emphasis on Airbnb’s authentic objective, perhaps rebrand is the mistaken phrase for Rooms. It’s not a brand new branding course a lot as reclaiming an previous one — again branding, fairly than rebranding. There’s an necessary lesson in right here for each enterprise proprietor: progress and authenticity can discover themselves at odds, and with no coherent story in your entire work trip, you would possibly find yourself outgrowing your model and alienating your prospects.
That is one purpose that companies lean on retro or nostalgic model identification, like Burger King’s 2021 emblem redesign, emphasizing a return to easier substances and easier instances. However a rebrand that appears backward must be genuine. Inserting CEO Brian Chesky, who’s been round for the reason that very starting, on the coronary heart of the rebrand ensures that prospects can see that this actually is about Airbnb’s roots.
So even whereas your focus is on the place your model goes, don’t lose sight of the place you got here from. Your origin story could possibly be the important thing to a continued connection along with your prospects.
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