Source: WARC
Airbnb is one of those brands that believe core values of the company and public stand on certain political issues are among the strongest brand building tools.
Kim Rubey, global head/social impact and philanthropy at Airbnb, discussed this subject during a session at the 2018 Techonomy NYC conference, where she presented examples of Airbnb’s active stance on important subjects, from running ads that embrace tolerance and openness, championing destinations that have been unfairly maligned by political leaders, or helping displaced people.
Rubey noted that the brand has witnessed push back among some consumer pockets in response to its assertions in favor of tolerance and cosmopolitanism.
“To the extent that people disagree with positions or stances we’ve taken, the way they express themselves can be really antagonistic and kind of rattling in some regards,” she said, according to WARC.
But while some marketers shy from taking a strong stance on heated issues because of such risks, Airbnb believes it is vital for their brand, and are perfectly comfortable with people choosing other travel options if they don’t share the values.
To illustrate that notion, she revealed that an otherwise data-focused company relaxes this emphasis for particular matters of principle.
“For us, writ large, this is the one area where we’re not focused on measurement and we’re not so metrics-obsessed,” Rubey said. “There’s just a whole bucket of things where it’s the right thing to do and that drives the decision-making.”
With such a public posture, the enterprise, she continued, has realized an unequivocal benefit for the brand in terms of recruiting and retaining talent.
