Airbnb briefed us to help leverage its sponsorship of Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, making sure to align with the global brand strategy to show Airbnb’s network of hosts lets you find interesting places to stay and ‘belong anywhere’.

Our strategy was to literally demonstrate Airbnb’s brand belief that people can ‘belong anywhere’ and to create a unique experience – the world’s first liveable house-float – that would be just as interesting and sharable to consumers as traditional media and bloggers.

We worked with interior designers to create a liveable space with mezzanine bedroom, lounge and garden. To drive sign-ups we listed it on Airbnb and gave the public a chance to stay in it.

We revealed the float to media outside the Sydney Opera House to create mass media and drive entries. Then we toured the house to major LGBTI events, notably Harbour Party in the lead-up to Mardi Gras.

We used Airbnb’s owned social media channels and our own platform to spread the word and invited Aussie Airbnb ‘hosts’ to participate in the event, turning them into our influencers.

The winning couple were met by TV, news and travel media on the morning of their stay.

That evening, we took them to Mardi Gras with hundreds of Airbnb hosts to dance alongside them to experience the world’s biggest gay and lesbian parade.

The campaign achieved tangible success for Airbnb, which converted into hard sales. Bookings were up 20% over forecast during the campaign and beyond.

We constructed the world's first liveable house-float; working with interior designers to create a liveable space with mezzanine bedroom, lounge and garden. To drive sign-ups we listed it on Airbnb, offering a chance to stay in it.

Weeks before the parade, we revealed the float to media outside Sydney’s Opera House to create mass media. We kept up the excitement through activations at major LGBTI events such as Harbour Party, and tailored media pitches about everything from the interior to the in-house drag queen.

The winning couple were met by TV, news and travel media on the morning of their stay. That evening, we took them to Mardi Gras with hundreds of Airbnb hosts to dance alongside them to experience the world’s biggest gay and lesbian parade. It was captured as content with the message #StayWithPride and further distributed to media, as well as used on our social channels.

The campaign achieved tangible success for Airbnb, which converted into hard sales. Bookings were up 20% over forecast during the campaign and beyond as a direct result.

As well, it generating significant social media impact for an Australian campaign – 303,800 people reached directly via Facebook with 3.939 million Twitter impressions.

It also generated positive word-of-mouth for the brand evidenced by positive sentiment in tweets and Facebook likes. The campaign crossed into mainstream media with over 80 items of earned media in publications including Murdoch’s News.com.au; Sydney Morning Herald’s traveller.com.au; and front page of MX daily newspaper. The campaign was mentioned in Japan, Russia and France evidenced by Twitter and LGBTI blogs.

With $0 media budget the campaign featured on National TV with a 2-minute feature on Channel 7 news, plus coverage on Channel 9 and SBS news.