- Objective: Build positive brand awareness, share inspiring human stories, create a sense of belonging and shift brand perception in one of Airbnb's crucial markets, New York City.
- Strategy: Celebrate runners and our local hosts who #GoTheExtraMile every day. Through Tumblr we were able to engage with runners, locals and our entire community before, during and after the New York City Marathon. The Tumblr showcased fresh content in the weeks leading up to the marathon with customized graphics, gifs and user generated content. The content strategy shined the spotlight on the amazing hosts of New York City who #GoTheExtraMile, while also encouraging those hosting runners participating in the race.
- We supported a member of the Airbnb community, Simon, who wanted to run from Boston to New York City to compete in the marathon. Simon is blind and needed support along the way. We leveraged the power of our community to submit via our Tumblr to host Simon along his course from Boston to New York.We used the Tumblr to post status updates of Simon – people were tracking where he was so that they could join him during his run when he was passing through their town.
- The Tumblr became a hub for engaging content that encouraged runners to #GoTheExtraMile leading up to race day! Animated gifs and customized graphics were tumbled to motivate!
- The Tumblr housed useful content for locals and runners. Out of towners could get information on where to book an Airbnb in NYC for marathon weekend. Locals could find event details on where to help runners #GoTheExtraMile and cheer them on for race day.
- The Tumblr became an interactive platform where user generated content took weight as our community got ready to run.
- Our local hosts and local partners were highlighted and featured- showcasing the long lasting human stories behind the brand in New York City.
- Outcome: With ~ 200 posted content pieces we were able to garner qualified traffic- with only a 3% bounce rate, reflecting the truly engaging nature of the Tumblr and the posted content. The customized graphics and gifs published to the Tumblr were acknowledged by New York Times as the 'mascot' for the entire marathon. The success of the Tumblr proved value and it will reign into 2015 and 2016 as Airbnb is a sponsor in the coming years.
By leveraging a centralized Tumblr for the New York City Marathon, we were able to harness the power of ~2500 posts that mentioned Airbnb during the marathon. Retumbling and highlighting our community, shined the spotlight on them and how they #GoTheExtraMile. We were able to harness 2% of the conversation around the entire New York City Marathon and push it back out through our Tumblr- really putting our community at the heart of the campaign.
