THE CHALLENGE

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the Indian tourism industry was projected to book a revenue loss of Rs 1.25 trillion. 2020 was the worst year on record in the history of tourism. As travel restrictions eased towards the end of 2020, Airbnb needed to address consumer paranoia about travel and regain trust, while re-instilling host & guest confidence.

The objective was to create top-of-mind consumer recall by providing an exclusive once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to stay at a very unexpected space – the home of Bollywood’s King Khan. This would allow Airbnb to become a part of pop culture conversations and foster human connections at a time when consumer trust and willingness to travel was low.

THE STRATEGY

Unique place - The one of a kind stay gave guests access to Gauri and SRK’s Delhi home - a space which has always been inaccessible to those outside the Khans’ immediate circle

The need for credible voices - At a time when Airbnb needed to re-instill host & guest confidence, it was imperative to bring on board credible voices, who had been advocates of the brand in the past. Having stayed at Airbnb in LA, and their immense popularity & global fan following made Gauri and SRK the ideal couple to partner with

Cultural relevance & a powerful narrative - Bollywood is one of the top consumer passion points in India transcending demographics and geographies, and Shah Rukh and Gauri Khan are often hailed as Bollywood’s first couple.

An influencer campaign, which 'earned' media attention globally - All of Airbnb’s communication is earned at its core –  for Airbnb, PR, in addition to word of mouth is what has built the brand.

THE EXECUTION

Pre-launch

• Exclusive walkthrough of the Delhi home, led by Gauri Khan for Vogue India
• Select 1:1 virtual press interactions about her definition of home,  design inspiration, early memories in the city and what Airbnb guests can expect
• 4 international media were given embargo access to Gauri Khan and the home

Virtual launch announcement

• Curated a virtual launch press conference to announce Airbnb’s first Bollywood hosts and give media a glimpse into their Delhi home
• Popular Bollywood director and the Khan’s close friend Farah Khan hosted the press conference
• Unveiled the campaign film and an omnichannel for guests to submit their entries
• Conceptualised a selection of videos featuring Gauri Khan, wherein she talked about the association; favorite corners of the home; and anecdotes from her & Shah Rukh’s life

Strategic press outreach across 12 Indian cities and key international Airbnb markets including UK, US, France, Italy, UAE, Australia, Malaysia, and Thailand

THE OUTCOME

• 9000+ contest entries received
• Secured 750+ media stories delivering reach of over 1.4 billion across online, print and broadcast media globally
• 18.5 million impressions garnered on social media
• With over 2 million social media engagements and a social media worth 1.5 million
• INR 1.85+ Billion PR value
• 100% positive press sentiment
• Airbnb’s OmniPage created for the campaign received more than 88K views in less than 24 hours of the campaign being live. Overall OmniPage views of 450K+ till the contest was live

Extensively covered in international media such as The Times UK, Vogue France, Tatler Malaysia and Wired Italy amongst others