Digital Brand Storytelling: A Case Study of Airbnb

This report explores the digital brand storytelling strategy of Airbnb, including its brand targeting, strategic message, digital platforms used, theoretical frameworks, and auditing. The report also examines how storytelling has enabled Airbnb to connect with consumers and build brand loyalty. The report is based on a case study of Airbnb, a leading international vacation rental company headquartered in the United States.

Digital Marketing

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Who is the brand targeting?.............................................................................................................1
What is the nature of the story(ies) told (strategic message)?.........................................................2
Which digital platforms/media does the brand use?........................................................................3
How well has the brand’s storytelling enabled them to connect with consumers?.........................3
Which theoretical frameworks underpin the story(ies)?..................................................................4
A critical assessment of the structure and narrative and subsequent success of the brand story.....4
What does the audit tell you?...........................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Digital marketing can be defined as the element of the entire marketing which uses the
internet and the computing devices along with the online based digital technologies. It basically
involves the desktop computers and other platforms in order to promote product and services of
the company. Digital brand storytelling can be defined as the usage of narrative tools for
engaging with the customers. It shapes the identity of the brand beyond the approaches of
traditional marketing. It basically involves the humanizing of the brand in order to promote the
values by simply narrating the stories which creates connection with the audiences and the
company's people (Aimé, 2021). The following discussion is based on the Airbnb organization.
It is one of the leading international vacation rental company headquartered in United States and
established in 2008. It is an American firm which operates in the market place in an online
manner. Its services includes the lodging, tourism activities and home stays for vacations rentals.
The current report covers some of the aspects such as brand targeting, brand storytelling,
strategic message, theoretical frameworks, digital media, narrations and auditing.
Who is the brand targeting?
Brand targeting can be defined as the strategy of marketing which breaks the big market
into the smaller parts. This helps in concentrating the particular group of customers from the
overall market of the company. This is a strategy that rather than reaching to the whole market,
company must use the concept of target marketing and must put all their efforts and resources to
those segments only for promoting the products and services. In context of Airbnb, organization
have the brand targeting to the specific group of customers. One of the target segment is the host.
These are the people who just desire to monetise the space which is unoccupied and can be the
reasons that they just simply wants to meet the new people. Another target segment of the
company is the guests. These are the people who desires the alternate option to accommodate at
hotels at an affordable prices. These people wants the accommodation in the form of more home
like atmosphere and also the local experience as well. Moreover, Airbnb has defined its core
audience as the head first explorers. They holds their place in the consumer segment of
psychography which accelerates most of their business. These are the target customers of the
company who are also involved in the reviewing of digital brand storytelling tool of digital
marketing performed by the firm (Moin, 2020).
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What is the nature of the story(ies) told (strategic message)?
There is a evolution of Airbnb storytelling behaviour. In 2007, company had followed the
statement of forget hotels in which the firm believes that there must be no frills and explanatory
messaging. In 2008 – 2009, company had followed the statement of travel like a human. In this,
firm believes that there must be the differentiation from the hotel stay and also the travel
experience in a typical manner. In 2013 – now, company had followed the statement of belong
anywhere. In this, the firm believes that there must be revitalized angle of story which generally
moves away from the hotel and which majorly spotlights the diversity and inclusion philosophy.
The current storytelling technique and strategic message followed by the company is related with
the user generated content in the form of great beneficiaries. Existing customers who have
already took the services form the organization post their experiences on the social media. Then
the Airbnb again repost such reviews by connecting with the story of travelling as per the
location and services rendered to that particular customer. Strategic message is associated with
the location of travel and the visualization of the same. This helps the company is gaining more
attraction from the customers who not yet visited the places and wants to travel around the
world. This creates connection with the customer (Fischbach and Guerrero, 2020).
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Which digital platforms/media does the brand use?
There are various platforms where the company post their storytelling and promote their
products and services to the customers. Such platforms includes the Facebook and Instagram
along with the YouTube and Pinterest and also the Twitter or LinkedIn and many more. The
most majorly used social media platform by Airbnb is YouTube. Company create an attractive
video of their customers enjoying their vacations with proper quotes of travelling. This is the
main visualization tool used by the firm. Another tools used are the attractive symbols and
photography along with the illustration and visual language. Social media platforms are used by
the company to post such attractive visualization with attention gaining stories. While using
YouTube, company majorly focuses that the they can get their YouTube page highlighted.
Specially among their targeted customers with maximum number of subscription and liked
videos. Company has gained their maximum popularity and brand awareness with the help of
YouTube channels they are operating to target the customers. They majorly uses the digital
brand storytelling technique on their YouTube channels in the form of videos. Then they prefer
Instagram and Facebook for further advertising and promotion. This has assisted the customer in
creating the connection with their travelling passions. Hence customers reach out to the company
for their vacations and accommodations (Spanos, 2021).
How well has the brand’s storytelling enabled them to connect with
consumers?
Airbnb has benefited by following up the strategies of brand storytelling as it has
supported the company in connecting them with the customers. Uniqueness is one of the benefit.
Company has got the unique selling proposition due to the brand storytelling which has further
benefited in the improvement of popularity and stability in the market place. Sense of
community is an another benefit. Company has gained the advantage of engagement with the
continuity which has further helped in the long term relationship with the customers and other
stakeholders of the firm as well. Providing value is also one of the benefit. Company gas gained
the more of the values by implementing the strategic technique of digital marketing that is the
storytelling tool on different social media platforms. Builds loyalty and trust within customers is
also an another benefit. Storytelling helps in creating the connection with the large number of
customers which further leads to the customer loyalty and trust towards the brand. Improvement
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in search engine rankings is of the benefit. After gaining popularity, customers used to search the
company on the search engines which has resulted in the top rankings of the website on search
engines. Attracts relevant customers is an another benefit. Along with the targeted customers,
other customers who can also be considered as relevant customers got attracted towards the
company (McDougal, Syrdal, Gravois and Kemp, 2021).
Which theoretical frameworks underpin the story(ies)?
Theoretical framework which is used by the Airbnb in its digital brand storytelling
strategy is The Hero's Journey. It is defined as the common narrative archetype or can be the
story template in which a hero is involved. This is the hero who went to an adventure and learns
the lesson. Then wins the victory with newfound knowledge and returns to the home as a
transformed person with personal improvement and development. In context of Airbnb, the
company uses this hero as a customers who visits to the different location with the help of the
company services. They explores about many places and forms an exposure towards the location
with full enjoyment. Company posts this entire story on the live experiences of the customers on
different social median platforms. This attracts the other customers to visit and travel to some
adventures places to be a part of the entire journey experiences. Company follow some stages
while creating the story such as first is the call to adventure. Second is supernatural aid. Third is
crossing the threshold. Fourth is road of trials. Fifth is approach. Sixth is ordeal. Seventh is
reward. Eighth is magic flight. Ninth is return. Tenth is resurrection. Eleventh is resolution. All
these stages are connected with the real time story telling of the customers (Hong, Yang,
Wooldridge and Bhappu, 2021).
A critical assessment of the structure and narrative and subsequent success of
the brand story
There is a structure and narrative sessions developed by the company which has resulted
in the subsequent success of the brand story with the help of The Hero's Journey. This is the
theoretical framework of the storytelling strategy which helps in the demonstration of the easy
change in everyone's life. It tells the simple possibility of the change management in an
individual's life. Success of the story is based on the theory that anyone in life can overcome the
big adversity and can easily defeat their fears in life. It further explains that how some myths and
popular stories can work in the real world. All such things are depicted by the company while
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using this theory in order to get connection with the customers that leads to the success of the
brand story within Airbnb. Moreover, company has chosen this framework so that not only they
can connect with the customers on an emotional or psychological basis but physically as well. So
basically, the hero's actions and decisions in the story response to the entire journey and also the
phases of growth which a character experiences at the time of story. This relates with the moral
support to the customers to be a part of Airbnb which has a brand success story (Fauziah and
Fachira, 2021).
What does the audit tell you?
Auditing of the storytelling helps the company in examining the presence of the brand on
the social media and even on its website as well. It basically looks for the consistency in the
voice of the brand and also the message which usually sets the benchmark against the
competitors. In context of Airbnb, auditing tells the brand position in the market place by
figuring out the auditing behaviour within the firm. It helps in discovering the strengths and
weaknesses of the brand while aligning the products and services with the target audiences. It
understands the perception of the brand which ensures consistency. While performing the audit,
Airbnb has followed some strategies such as putting the digital brand audit framework in place
and analysing the social media which focuses on the website and analytics while targeting the
audiences viewpoint and also checking on the market along with the analysing of findings and
taking the necessary actions as well. All such strategies used by the company which helps in
auditing and improving the productivity of the organization (Andersson, Solitander and Ekman,
2019).
CONCLUSION
It is concluded that digital marketing is an important concept to learn and study so that its
applications can be applied in the real world organizations. This is because if company wants to
expand its customer reach worldwide then it is essential for the firm to bring its brand to the
digital platforms. Digital brand storytelling is a part of the digital marketing tools and techniques
on which the above discussion is based on. It helps in creating the connection with the customers
towards the products and services of the brand. It further leads to the large number of sales and
revenue generations. Therefore, it is necessary to analyse the concept of brand targeting. It is
significant to examine the nature of stories and strategic message. It is crucial to determine the
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various digital platforms. It is vital to assess the theoretical frameworks of the storytelling
technique. It is imperative to evaluate the structure and narrations along with the auditing of the
stories so that the connections can be build up with the customers. Hence, the above information
covers all such areas in order to better understand the conception of digital brand storytelling.
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References
Books and Journals
Aimé, I., 2021. The dynamic construction of brand storytelling. Journal of Strategic Marketing,
pp.1-20.
Andersson, M., Solitander, A. and Ekman, P., 2019. Cluster branding and marketing. A
handbook on Cluster Brand Management. Tendersor.
Fauziah, F.N. and Fachira, I., 2021. The Evaluation of Digital Brand Storytelling Implementation
in Local Brand. European Journal of Business and Management Research, 6(4), pp.344-
349.
Fischbach, S. and Guerrero, V., 2020. Brand Stories: Transformative Learning Through Digital
Brand Storytelling (DBS). Journal of Advertising Education, 24(2), pp.133-149.
Hong, J.J., Yang, J., Wooldridge, B.R. and Bhappu, A.D., 2021. Sharing consumers’ brand
storytelling: influence of consumers’ storytelling on brand attitude via emotions and
cognitions. Journal of Product & Brand Management.
McDougal, E.R., Syrdal, H.A., Gravois, R. and Kemp, A., 2021. Telling the tale: applying a
strategic brand storytelling process for STP planning. Journal of Strategic Marketing, pp.1-
21.
Moin, S.M.A., 2020. Brand Storytelling in the Digital Age: Theories, Practice and Application.
Palgrave Macmillan.
Spanos, M., 2021. Brand storytelling in the age of artificial intelligence. Journal of Brand
Strategy, 10(1), pp.6-13.
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