{"id":2659,"date":"2020-11-19T10:10:08","date_gmt":"2020-11-19T09:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mentarossa.it\/il-caso-airbnb-quando-un-brand-diventa-un-simbolo\/"},"modified":"2025-04-17T13:28:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T11:28:08","slug":"the-airbnb-case-when-a-brand-becomes-a-symbol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mentarossa.it\/en\/the-airbnb-case-when-a-brand-becomes-a-symbol\/","title":{"rendered":"The Airbnb Case: When a Brand Becomes a Symbol"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_row el_class=”maxw1140″][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]Within a few years, it has become synonymous with bed & breakfast, a name that generically indicates budget accommodation when traveling for pleasure. Like many companies in the technology sector, Airbnb took very little time to assume such an important role in all our lives; in fact, its foundation dates back just 13 years. A result achieved by developing a winning idea and a simple and functional technological platform, but also by building a precise identity around the brand, capable of communicating its values to a global target and turning a more or less amateur website into a hospitality industry giant that today is challenging large hotel chains that have been active for centuries.<\/p>\n

This identity took a few years to be defined, and in 2014, it was the focus of a major restyling that involved the logo, the graphics in general, and the tone of voice.<\/p>\n

Why are we telling you this story? Because the story of Airbnb’s rebranding clearly shows the work behind the creation of a new image and, above all, the direct consequences that this activity has had on the performance and success of the company founded in San Francisco in 2007.<\/p>\n

The story of Airbnb’s rebranding is proof that a good shake-up \u2013 understood as a general renewal of a company’s image, the way it presents and tells itself to customers and the world \u2013 is fundamental to the success of a business. It is not enough to conceive a product or service better than the competition; to stand out, it is necessary to give it a particular look, to build a context around it that makes it recognizable and elevates it above its competitors.<\/p>\n

This is what we mean by the “shake effect,” what we try to do with our clients when asked to develop a communication project. We start from the specific characteristics of a brand, its values, and its strengths, qualities that very often remain more or less hidden from the eyes of the public and potential customers, to build a new image whose main objective is to make these qualities clear and highly visible.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”” el_class=”mtd30 mtm30 h2_articolo” font_weight=”700″ color=”#000000″ font_size=”20″ line_height=”30px”]\n

Once upon a time in Silicon Valley\u2026<\/h2>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”” el_class=”mtd30 mtm30″]But let’s go back to Airbnb. Before talking about the rebranding, it is useful to start from the founding story of this company, which has now become a legend in the Silicon Valley environment. Forbes tells us:[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”” el_class=”mtd30 mtm30″]\n
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\u201cJoe Gebbia and Brian Chesky, graduates of the Rhode Island School of Design, were struggling with rent and asked some people visiting San Francisco for a design conference to sleep on an air mattress on their floor, it was 2007. They then involved a third friend, Nathan Blecharzyck, to help them create a website. Originally called Air Bed and Breakfast, its launch was not a success.<\/p>\n

After 12 months, bookings were only 10 or 20 a day. But the trio was already looking for money: in June 2008, they tried to involve seven investors and were rewarded with five rejections and two ignored emails. Their request? One hundred and fifty thousand dollars for 10% of the company, a position that, if not diluted, would be worth more than 3 billion dollars today. The biggest problem was the lack of trust: people were not comfortable inviting strangers they met on the Internet into their homes.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”” el_class=”mtd30 mtm30″]To solve this problem, the founders began working closely with Airbnb hosts to try to understand how to stimulate people’s trust. They implemented a review system, added 24\/7 customer service, and worked on the quality of the website’s images. Also helped by the great crisis of 2008, which forced many travelers to downsize their budgets and many people to put aside the fear of a foreign guest in their home to make ends meet, the listings on the platform went from 20 a day to 500,000 in 2013 (and 5 million in 2018).[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”” el_class=”mtd30 mtm30 h2_articolo” font_weight=”700″ color=”#000000″ font_size=”20″ line_height=”30px”]\n

Much more than just a logo<\/h2>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”” el_class=”mtd30 mtm30″]At the same time, the company pursued a path of image updating, working to build a strong and recognizable identity. Thus came the first logo change, the choice of a simpler name, from Airbed & Breakfast to Airbnb, and a new platform design aimed at making individual host listings more effective.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row el_class=”articolo_riga_img mtd100 mtm50 maxw1140″][vc_column]