MKT 4430- Promotional Strategy

​

Anthony Messina, Colton Cox, Hunter Robinson, Jake Germany, Lana Waddle & Sarah White

1

2

Table of Contents

​

• Situation Analysis
• Executive Summary
• Brand Analysis
• Competitor Brand Analysis
• Problem and Opportunity Assessment
• Marketing Strategy
• Marketing Objective
• Integrated Marketing Communications
• Budget and Media Strategy
• Media Campaign Timeline
• Executional Tactics
• Evaluation
• Contingency Plan

Executive Summary

• AirBnB was Founded in 2008, in San Francisco by a few guys just looking to pay rent through renting out a room. AirBnb has disrupted the lodging industry and has dominated in the short term rental game for over a decade now. While AirBnb leads the pack there are still some women who don’t stay with AirBnb because of their misconceptions about its cleanliness which has led to a missed opportunity for sales for this population.
• AirBnb’s “The Clean Way To Travel” campaign aims to increase the female user base by 5% from 3,455,000 to 3,627,750 in a 6 month period starting July 1, 2019. Our marketing strategy is to focus advertising towards the female population and inform them of AirBnb’s standards and cleanliness fees that are associated with every booking to ensure that they have one less thing to worry about when traveling.
• Our creative strategy emphasizes the importance of eliminating the concerns with cleanliness with lodging when traveling. When guests stay in any Airbnb around the world it should already be clean no matter where they are, how much they paid, or who their host is. With our creative idea, we plan to inform our target market about the standards and fees that AirBnb puts in place to ensure all of it’s accommodations are clean for its guest. By informing our target market of our efforts and rules set in place we expect to see an increase in the number of women using AirBnb.

​

​

3

Brand Analysis: Product Attribute

• Price Varies depending on reservation and location. (average $80 a night)
• Rental opportunities - Homes, apartments, villas, Cottages, Lofts, Condos
• Types of listings (Private Room, Shared Room, Whole Place)
• 5 million listings worldwide
• 191+ countries with Airbnb
• 2 million + staying per night on average
• 400 million all time arrivals

�

4

Brand Analysis: Communication Style

5

•The goal of Airbnb is to make the customer feel like they belong there. Airbnb feels like a step in the right direction for doing so is making homes available around the world.

•Airbnb wants potential hosts to understand the benefits from having guests staying in their home. Finding new hosts can be difficult and that’s why Airbnb is using advertising to show people that they can help others that are traveling “belong anywhere”.

Brand Analysis: Media Spending

Airbnb advertises their brand through TV ads, Radio ads, and through the internet. They have been extremely successful through the internet as the statistic shows below.

​

​

​

​

​

6

(AdSpender, 2018)

Brand Analysis: Brand News

•Airbnb, like many companies, is looking to expand into new categories for business. A couple weeks ago the company announced that it hired Fred Reid, CEO of Virgin America to lead a new transportation division within the company. (Forbes.com, 2019)

​

•Airbnb short term rentals are now approved in Williamsburg, Virginia. While some people have been operating illegally, it is finally legal, if conditions are met, to open your house for short term rentals. (Wydaily.com, 2019)

​

•While Airbnb is controversial in many cities, it is certainly evident that it did some good in Chicago by bringing in $8.2 million in taxes last year. Some of this money is going toward homelessness and domestic violence support services. (CBSLocal.com, 2019)

​

7

Web Analytics

​

8

Demographics

9

•Based off the demographic chart on the left for Airbnb customers, we can see that our typical users are 25-34 year old men with an income of $75,000-$149,999 as opposed to other demographic traits.

Psychographics

10

•After reviewing information on university reporter for Airbnb consumers in the most recent year, we can conclude that Airbnb consumers spend much of their leisure time traveling, keeping up with current events, and finding the best deals.

​

•Websites/apps such as CNN, Trip Advisor, and Groupon were some of the most used platforms by users.

​

•Other apps with high traffic such as IMBD and Fandango lead us to think that Airbnb consumers tend to be frequent movie goers

(University Reporter, 2017)

Media Category Usage

11

•Outdoors – heavy (2 & 1)

•Internet – heavy (1)

•Radio – moderate (4 & 2)

•TV – light (5 & 4)

•Magazine – Heavy moderate (2)

• Newspaper – light (5)

(University Reporter, 2017)

Economic

12

•As a whole the lodging industry is showing no signs of slowing down

​

•Short term rentals are increasing in both market share and total revenue

​

•Hotels, short term-rentals and other lodging are all increasing their revenue each year

(Passport Euromonitor, 2018)

Regulatory

13

• Starting in 2018, nearly all short term rentals had the opportunity to deduct up to 20% of net rental income from income taxes due to the (TJAC) Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (Nolo.com, 2018)

• Cities all over the country have different laws and regulations regarding how short term rentals operate. For example here a couple of different local laws around the country

• City code (sec 142-1111) states that all single family vacation/short term rentals are prohibited in certain districts of Miami Beach (MiamiBeachFL.gov, 2019)

• In Austin, a city ordinance requires short term rental owners to acquire an operating license which costs $550 just to apply (AustinTexas.gov, 2019)

​

Cultural Analysis

14

•The main reason visitors don’t return to a property is because they feel that the person running the property doesn’t care (CulturalIQ.com)

•Expedia, Priceline, Kayak and similar services have replaced traditional travel agencies (BU.edu, 2017)

•Millennial preferences have pushed the creation of many new brands within the lodging industry (especially hotels) that require new thinking and different tastes than previous generational preferences (BU.edu, 2017)

•Many people are looking more and more for sustainability and for many people this is a factor in where they decide to stay (SmartMeetings.com, 2018)

Technological

Analysis

• Consumer expectations with technology are for fast and highly functional websites, and other technological touchpoints between the consumer. Fast and up to date technology is quickly becoming a requirement and not just a bonus (SmartMeetings.com, 2018)

​

• More and more people are using social platforms such as Facebook, yelp, google reviews, etc. to share experiences and concerns. Companies have to be able to minimize damage done by this and focus heavily on customer service (SmartMeetings.com, 2018)

​

• Biometric authentication is continuing to grow and can be used to create a seamless check in process for the lodging industry (Forbes.com, 2018)
• Ex. Facial recognition, Touch ID

​

15

Supplier/Distributor Analysis

•Sonder – a company that has been around for roughly 5 years. They have been operating quietly and in only a few cities. beginning to gain traction with recent funding (Pitchbook.com, 2018)

•9Flats – started in 2011 and is for booking entire places to yourself (TravelFreak.net, 2019)

•ThirdHome – specializes in luxury rentals. Average price of homes is $2.3 million (TravelFreak.net, 2019)

​

16

While Airbnb is the most well known provider in this respective industry they certainly aren’t the only one

(Upenn.edu, 2019)

Purchase Behaviors

17

•80% of families take a vacation during summer

•42% of families take a vacation over spring break

•54% of people age 35-44 travel for adventure

Millenials are one of the driving causes of the rapid increase in short term rentals over the last several years so it is important to recognize reasons behind their behavior.

(Upenn.edu, 2019)

Competitive Analysis: Product Attributes

• Vrbo and Airbnb are very similar, both offer home rentals that consumers can stay in
• Pricing differs based on the location of the tenant.
• Both have an average of 4.8 stars for reviews.
• Vrbo is more expensive than Airbnb by comparing different houses and models in the same area
• Vrbo has a better layout on their website as opposed to airbnb.
• Vrbo has a filter the specifically categorizes what the consumer is looking for, whether it be a pet friendly rental, a pool or a particular house

18

(Homeaway, 1995)

Competitive Analysis: Communication Style

• VRBO promotes itself by focusing on the variety of styles of rentals that can be rented with Vrbo. Whether it be a condo, a beach house, or a cabin, there is something for everyone.
• Customers reviews and feedback about their visits let vrbo know how customers feel about using VRBO and their stay in their host’s home.Testimonials from people let those know about their experience using Vrbo
• Vrbo uses their pet friendly policy to appeal to animals lovers who want to bring their pet along for vacation. Vrbo also markets their products for holidays, stating that you are one click away from you holiday rental.

19

(Homeaway, 1995)

Competitive Analysis: Media Spending

• 49,219,00 viewers see VRBO on tv and use it for a service, but 49,178,000 do not use the ad. The higher (48) the amount of consumers that watch tv, the lower (127) the UNW.
• VRBO is less likely to be used by those with heavy tv viewings (494,000) as opposed to those with lighter tv viewings (1,274,000).8.13% of those who view tv heavily use VRBO and 49.5% of those who view tv lightly use Verbo. Heavy tv viewers have a low index at 41 and are less likely to use VRBO . Light to moderate viewers have averages over 100.
• The detail index scores have viewers using VRBO more with a score of 6,289 as opposed to 2,422. About 49,200,000 use the internet heavily and lightly and see verbo advertised. Moderate consumers lead with a UNW of 150 as opposed to 115 for heavy users and 43 for light users.Moderate to heavy users are more likely to engage with a vrbo ad with 3 million engagements to 481,00 (Adspender,2019).

20

Competitive Analysis: Brand News

• Expedia , which owns Vrbo, has rebranded VRBO to Vrbo and says it will now be pronounced as “ver-boh”. This effort was a way for Expedia to refresh the brand and make it easier to say in more languages (Vrmintel, 2019)
• Vrbo has rolled out new Trips Board tool to their website which allows customers share travel plans with others, ask for feedback, and vote on ones that they like best (Consumer Affairs, 2019)

21

Competitor Customer Profile

22

(University Reporter, 2018)

*CDI was found using Hotels, Motels & Other Lodging - “By Owner” Rental Service Used, Last 12 Months. Retrieved from the University Reporter DataBase

Competitor Customer Analysis

23

Based on the information listed on the previous slide, we can conclude that the average VRBO consumer is a female that fits the demographic profile tabled below.

Strengths and Weaknesses: SWOT

Strengths

• Wide range of prices
• Diverse room options (Ex. Treehouse)
• Opportunity for individuals to make money
• More authentic and customizable experiences for guests
• Less check in process
• Easy to use app
• Less regulations than hotels within places that allow
• Company has to inventory
• Hosts can decide what days to host or not host
• Expanding in users and market share

​

​

​

24

Weaknesses

• More perceived danger than hotel
• Trusting other people in your home
• Not supported by most hotels
• Many cities have specific rules and regulations (Many operating illegally)
• Tend to have less amenities than hotels
• Nearly anyone can host
• Every person on AirBnb is a representation of the company
• Cases of discrimination
• Cleanliness is left to each host
• Inconsistent experiences
• Can be disturbing to residential neighborhoods

Threat and Opportunity Assessment: SWOT

Threats

• Legal restrictions
• Big host and guest problems damaging AirBnb reputation
• Low barrier to entry means more short term rental companies

​

​

25

Opportunities

• Spread into sharing of other spaces (Ex. offices)
• Spread into long term rentals
• Trip bundling (Getting car and flight too)
• Targeting other age groups
• Focus on matching types of people automatically
• Work with legislation so people can operate legally
• Emphasize verification process and safety

Problem and Opportunity Statement

​

Problem

Cleanliness in AirBnb rentals has negatively affected sales for women in lodging industry

Opportunity

- Cleaning fees are used to hire professionals to clean units

- Increasing knowledge of cleanliness of AirBnb units can increase sales for women

​

26

Marketing Strategy

27

Segmentation Scheme

For this campaign we segment by gender because we believe that women tend to be more concerned with cleanliness and therefore we can make bigger impact on them when focusing on a campaign around cleanliness

​

​

Target Market Selection

Although this group already possesses a relatively good BDI of 97 we noticed that their CDI was 106 which means they are staying in other short term rentals more often than with AirBnb. According to University Reporter (2017) there are 127.3 million women in the U.S. AirBnb currently has 3.5 million women as customers and the category overall has 10.5 million women.

Value Proposition

Functional

• AirBnb provides a large variety of accommodations
• AirBnb provides homeowners a way to earn extra income
• AirBnb allows people to stay in more suburban areas

28

Emotional

​

• Consumers feel more authentic travels when using AirBnb
• Consumers feel more socially connected when using AirBnb

Self Expressive

• People view AirBnb as more of a way to express themselves with accommodations that represent themselves
• People view AirBnb consumers as more adventurous
• People view AirBnb as a more personal experience than regular lodging

Competitive Positioning

We focus on the female population using AirBnb as a fun, alternative way to travel. We differentiate AirBnb from hotels based on the authentic and inexpensive experience that it provides.. We focus on changing the perception of the AirBnb’s cleanliness to women in order to show them that AirBnb is not only fun, but also a clean way to travel.

29

Positioning Statement

For women, AirBnb provides a fun and alternative, yet clean way to travel with family. As compared to hotels that are priced higher and have less of a personal / authentic experience, AirBnb provides a personalized experience at a much better price.

Marketing Objective

Women have a BDI of 97 compared to a CDI of 106 suggesting that there is definitely some room for them to grow. A CDI of 106 suggests that women are definitely using short term rentals more than the regular consumer does so there is already a developed interest in this category. According to University Reporter, AirBnb currently has 3,455,000 female customers.

30

By targeting women of all ages, we expect to increase the number of female AirBnb users by 5%, from 3,455,000 to 3,627,750 from July 1st, 2019 to December 31st, 2019

(University Reporter, 2017)

Integrated Marketing Communications

The Big Idea

In a society where the sharing economy is booming and more things are being shared on a regular basis (beds, cars, scooters, etc.) We realize that cleanliness is a huge concern for individuals especially during travels. We want our target market of women to understand that cleanliness is a top priority for AirBnb. We believe that their cleanliness should always be a primary concern and should not restrict them from traveling or getting an authentic experience that we can provide!

​

31

Sample Advertisement

Budget and Media Strategy

Our campaign will take the course over a 6 month period from July 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019. Using the previous year’s data of $1.286 million we will allocate 60% of that ($771,600) towards this 6 month period because there is more common travel periods in this window. Women take up a share of 49.8% of the market, but because we are focusing heavily on women we will use 60% of the budget ($462,960) for them.

Within our 6 month window we’ll use a pulsing campaign to ensure that there are efforts going at all times. We will place an emphasis on July, August, November and December because these are the most popular travel times in this period.

The budget is allocated across medians where we see our customers are most active.

​

32

Media Campaign Timeline

33

AirBnb

‘AirBnb: The Clean Way To Travel’

​

07/1/2019-12/31/2019

​

Executional Tactics

Magazines

With the information on University Reporter we found that users of AirBnb and other short term rentals generally consumed this as one of their top magazines. Costco Connection’s audience was 57% female so this was the best choice for reaching our target market.

We used ⅓ page colored magazines in the July and November magazines which are issued on the 19th of the month. The cost per ad is $72,500 and reaches ____ people. Because our audience has heavy moderate usage of magazines and the audience fits the general customer we serve we allocated 31% of our budget here.

Airports

Airports are one the staples in long travels and because that is the industry we are in we decided this would be a good medium to utilize. In our research we also found that short term rental customers have a moderately heavy outdoor media usage.

We decided that we would distribute our budget here between the top 10 airports in the United States. With our $19,960 budget that puts about $2000 at each airport. At a CPM of $23 we can assume that we will get about 868,000 impressions at each airport.

​

Digital Media

Facebook and Instagram are the two digital platforms where we see our target audience is most active. 53% of the users on Facebook are female so we decided that would be best for targeting women. Instagram users also lean towards female in proportion.

With our $299,075 budget for digital media use we can distribute a large budget towards both Instagram and Facebook. According to University Reporter our consumes media on the internet more than any other platform. Considering the vast number of people we reach and with very detailed specificity we deemed both Facebook and it’s other social media platform, Instagram, as the most strategic digital advertising method.

34

Evaluation

Primary Evaluation

For our campaign to be successful we want to increase the number of female AirBnb customers by 5%. We want people, specifically women, that AirBnb puts a lot of efforts to ensuring that our accomodation don’t just meet, but exceed industry standards of cleanliness, so that our customers can travel with one less thing to worry about.

We will use University Reporter on a bimonthly basis to monitor the growth in female customers.

Secondary Evaluation

During our 6 month campaign we will use magazine ads, outdoor ads (at airports), and digital media ads on Facebook and Instagram. To ensure that our ads are effective we will be tracking circulation of Costco Connection (magazine), traffic of people at the airports where our ads are placed, engagement with our social media advertisements, and website traffic during all of these efforts through SimilarWeb.com.

As an additional focus we will keep close watch of traffic on AirBnb.com when magazines are initially issued as well as keeping close track of website traffic when we have boosted times of ads on digital media.

​

35

Contingency Plan

One potential risk that could come about during our campaigns is an outright ban of AirBnb in specific cities. If we do encounter this we will remove our ads from these airports and disperse among others as well as run little to no digital media ads to that general area.

We anticipate that some our competitors in the short term rental and hotel industry may combat our efforts. We have dedicated $925 (2%) of our budget towards this cause. In the case this does happen we will watch carefully and see what areas are most affected, if any, and then will use the contingency budget towards those areas to reverse some of the damage.

36

Sample Advertisement

Reference Page

•AdSpender (2017). Airbnb advertising spending 2016-2017. Retrieved from the AdSpender database. (Media Spending)

•Airbnb Press Room. (2019). Fast Facts. Airbnb.com. https://press.airbnb.com/fast-facts/ (Product Attributes)

•Caron, B. (2019, February 7). Airbnb Says It Isn't Building An Airline, But It Hired Ex-Virgin America CEO To Lead Transportation Experiments. Forbes.com. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/bizcarson/2019/02/07/airbnb-says-it-isnt-building-an-airline-but-it-hired-ex-virgin-america-ceo-to-lead-transportation-experiments/#79888ae75d89 (Brand News)

•CBS Chicago (2019, February 13). Airbnb Brought $8.2 Million In Taxes To Chicago Last Year. CBSlocal.com. Retrieved from https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2019/02/13/airbnb-brought-8-2-million-in-taxes-to-chicago-last-year/ (Brand News)

•Culture IQ. (2019). Understanding the Hospitality and Service Industry Culture. Retrieved from https://cultureiq.com/organizational-culture-hospitality-industry/ (Cultural)

•Fearing, S. (2019, February 14). Airbnb, short-term rentals approved in Williamsburg. Wydaily.com. Retrieved from https://wydaily.com/local-news/2019/02/14/airbnb-short-term-rentals-approved-in-williamsburg/ (Brand News)

•Fishman, S. (2018). How the New Tax Law Affects Airbnb and Other Short-Term Rental Hosts. Retrieved from https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/how-the-new-tax-law-affects-airbnb-and-other-short-term-rental-hosts.html (Regulatory)

•Foster, J. (2019, February 5). 13 Airbnb Alternatives You Should Know About. TravelFreak.net. Retrieved from https://travelfreak.net/airbnb-alternative/ (Suppliers/Distributors)

​

37

References

Kobres, E. (2018, June 28). New Technologies Will Revolutionize The Hospitality Industry. Forbes.com. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2018/06/28/new-technologies-will-revolutionize-the-hospitality-industry/#5b3dd79373c3 (Technology)

•Miami Beach. (2019). Vacation Short Term Rentals. Retrieved from https://www.miamibeachfl.gov/business/vacation-short-term-rentals/ (Regulatory)

•NYC Office Of Special Enforcement. (2019). Illegal Short-term Rentals. Retrieved from https://www1.nyc.gov/site/specialenforcement/enforcement/illegal-short-term-rentals.page (Regulatory)

•Official Website of City of Austin. (2019). Short Term Rental Licensing. Retrieved from http://www.austintexas.gov/department/short-term-rental-registration-program (Regulatory)

•Olsen, D. (2018, August 23). High-end rental startup comes out of stealth to take on Airbnb. Pitchbook.com. Retrieved from https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/high-end-rental-startup-comes-out-of-stealth-to-take-on-airbnb (Suppliers/Distributor)

•Oshins, M. (2017, June 12). Change in the Hospitality Industry: New Paradigms, Frames, and Perspectives. Retrieved from http://www.bu.edu/bhr/2017/06/12/hospitality-change-paradigm-and-perspective/ (Cultural)

•Passport (2018) . Lodging in the U.S. 2013-2018. Retrieved from Passport database (Economic)

•Passport (2018). Market Sizes 2013-2018. Retrieved from Passport database. (Eonomic)

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

38

References

•SimilarWeb.com (2019). Airbnb.com Traffic Statistics. Retrieved February 17, 2019 from https://www.similarweb.com/website/airbnb.com (Web Analysis)

•Smart Meetings Staff. (2018, August 3). Top 10 Trends Impacting the Hospitality Industry . Smartmeetings.com. Retrieved from https://www.smartmeetings.com/news/trends/74256/top-10-trends-impacting-hospitality-industry (Technology/Cultural)

•University Reporter (2017). Airbnb stayed in for personal/vacation and business. Retrieved from University Reporter database. (Customer Analysis)

•University Reporter (2017). VRBO stayed in for personal/vacation and business. Retrieved from University Reporter database. (Customer Analysis)

•University Reporter (2017). HomeAway stayed in for personal/vacation and business. Retrieved from University Reporter database. (Customer Analysis)

•University Reporter (2017). Other stayed in for personal/vacation and business. Retrieved from University Reporter database. (Customer Analysis)

•Upenn.edu. (2019, February 14). How the Sharing Economy Is Transforming the Short-term Rental Industry. Knowledge @ Wharton. Retrieved from http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/short-term-rentals-the-transformation-in-real-estate-and-travel-set-to-check-in/ (Purchase Behavior, Suppliers/Distributors)

•U.S. Travel Association. (2018). Travel Trends Index. Retrieved from https://www.ustravel.org/system/files/media_root/document/Research_Travel-Trends-Index.pdf (Purchase Behavior)

​

39

References

Independent Traveler See recent posts by Independent Traveler. “5 Reasons Airbnb Is Better Than a Hotel.https://www.smartertravel.com/5-reasons-airbnb-better-hotel/ (Value Proposition)

Hinote, Amy. "Expedia's rebrand of VRBO to Vrbo leads to feedback and questions about the HomeAway brand." VRM Intel. 28 Mar. 2019.https://www.vrmintel.com/expedias-rebrand-of-vrbo-to-vrbo-leads-to-questions-and-explosion-of-social-feedback-from-supplier-community/ (Competitor Brand News

Guthrie03/28/2019, Gary, and Gary Guthrie. “The Vacation Rental Market Is Gearing up for Big Changes.” ConsumerAffairs, ConsumerAffairs, https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/the-vacation-rental-market-is-gearing-up-for-big-changes-032819.html (Competitor Brand News)

https://www.gfkmrismartsystem.com/UniversityReporter/Report.aspx (Brand and competitor brand analysis)

40