In case you haven’t heard, advertising for “startups” in the “sharing economy” is all the rage. Uber, Lay’s and BBDO Energy recently joined forces to help us plan a picnic, and subletting service provider Airbnb signed TBWA as its creative AOR after launching its first-ever ad via Pereira & O’Dell back in May.
Today brings a very different sort of spot, created by VCCP Berlin and based on an Airbnb customer’s family connections to the Cold War.
Protagonist, antagonist, revelations facilitated by the product being advertised…this must be the thing they call “storytelling.”
The spot, created by VCCP and New York-based animation studio PSYOP, is part of the company’s new “Belong Anywhere” campaign, the idea being that Airbnb serves as the key to making people feel at home even in formerly hostile territory. The site features profiles of the two characters along with a “behind the story” short and a listing of events commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s demise (which was the catalyst for the whole project in the first place).
From company CMO Jonathan Mildenhall:
“As a community-driven company, we don’t want to just talk about our product, but instead put our community front and centre of any campaign.”
Now how will TBWA play off this theme for its coming work?
Credits
VCCP Berlin (Advertising Agency)
Management Director: Robin Karakash
Planning: Wiebke Dreyer, Ann-Kristin Sterba
Creation: Sebastian Oehme, Marc Garreta, Christophe Ducros, Lisa Krack
TV Department: Michael Opitz
Project Management: Alison Haly
Account Management: Philip Chhatwani, Helene Korte
PSYOP New York (Animation Studio)
Director: Marie Hyon, Marco Spier
Executive Producer: Lydia Holness
Producer: Ryan Mack
Designers: Samantha Ballardini, Kim Dulaney, Leland Goodman, Denny Khurniawan, Pedro Lavin, Pete Sickbert-Bennett, Lauren Indovina
Storyboard Artist: Ben Chan
Editor: Victor Barczyk, Laura Bermudez, John Resner, Robert Wilson
3D Modeler: Alvin Bae, Kwan Au
3D Lighter: Kwan Au, Alvin Bae
3D Pre-Vis Animator: Pat Porter
Lead 2D Animator: Harry Teitelman
2D Animators: Tyler Dibiasio, Tucker Klein, Dennis Moran, Christoph Sarow, Winnie Tom, Luca Vitale, Sam Ballardini
Compositors: Manu Gaulot, Bashir Hamid
Starcom (Media Agency)
Global Strategist: Arthur O’Neill
Client Managing Director: Jamie Leach
Airbnb
Chief Marketing Officer: Jonathan Mildenhall
Head of Global SEO: Dennis Goedegebuure
Head of Marketing, Europe: Alex Dimiziani
Head of Advertising: Peter Giorgi
Creative Producer: Willow Hill
Sound Design, Copywriter: Ian Rowe
Voice Over artist: Lisa Dubost
Creative Lead: Dillon Petrillo
Legal: Tanja de Coster
Music Dealers (Music Production)
Composer: Nick Seeley
Human Made (Web Development)
Project Manager: Scott Basgaard
Developer: Paul De Wouters
Developer: Dasha Luna
aimClear (Social Targeting)
Social Media Director: Merry Morud
Founder & Evangelist: Marty Weintraub