#16: Airbnb—The Brilliant Strategy Behind Their New Messaging Campaign

Summary

Podcast Summary: Why That Worked – Episode #16: Airbnb—The Brilliant Strategy Behind Their New Messaging Campaign

Introduction In episode #16 of Why That Worked, presented by StoryBrand.ai, hosts Donald Miller and Kyle Reed delve into Airbnb's latest messaging campaign. The episode, released on April 21, 2025, dissects the strategic shifts Airbnb has made in its marketing to understand why certain messaging resonates with a broad audience while others fall flat.

Overview of Airbnb's Messaging Campaign Kyle Reed initiates the discussion by referencing a recent Airbnb commercial featuring animated figures that captured his attention during a rare viewing of a sports game's advertisement (00:28). This commercial sparked curiosity about the underlying strategies driving Airbnb's updated messaging approach.

Critique of Airbnb's Old and New Taglines The conversation shifts to analyzing Airbnb's previous and current taglines. Donald Miller expresses reservations about the old tagline, "Travel Like a Local," labeling it as "elusive messaging" that requires consumers to decipher its meaning (05:24). He argues that such taglines are overly clever and fail to communicate clear value propositions to potential customers.

Reed adds context by mentioning Airbnb's post-pandemic campaign and substantial investment of $700 million into the new tagline, "Belong Anywhere" (06:30). However, Miller criticizes this new tagline for its vagueness, remarking, "I don't know what that is. If I said, 'belong anywhere,' what do you think we do?" (07:06). He advocates for more explicit messaging that clearly conveys Airbnb's value, such as "Why book a hotel when you could book a house."

Application of the StoryBrand Framework to Airbnb The hosts apply the StoryBrand Framework to dissect Airbnb’s messaging. They outline the framework's components:

1. Character (Hero): Defined as travelers seeking accommodations.
2. Problem: Identified as cramped, impersonal, and expensive hotel rooms (12:03).
3. Guide (Airbnb): Positioned as offering "ease, trust, and connection, helping both travelers and hosts succeed" (12:23).
4. Plan: A three-step plan including booking a space that feels like home, listing an Airbnb, and earning income effortlessly (14:06).
5. Call to Action: Clear directives like "Book with Airbnb" or "Book your Airbnb now" (15:18).

Miller emphasizes the importance of clarity over cleverness, stating, "Clarity is where the money is. Clever is where you feel good about how smart you are, and that doesn't benefit you or anybody else" (20:14).

Challenges of Dual Messaging: Consumer and Host A significant challenge highlighted is Airbnb's attempt to address two distinct audiences: travelers and hosts. Miller criticizes the conflation of two brand scripts into one, suggesting that separate messaging for each audience would be more effective (16:00). They discuss how StoryBrand.ai initially struggled to create a unified message that adequately addressed both groups, ultimately recommending the creation of distinct brand scripts for each target market (16:41).

Airbnb's Social Media and Cross-Platform Strategy The hosts examine Airbnb's approach across various social media platforms:

• Instagram: Focuses on showcasing host homes with visually stunning images of unique spaces (30:42).
• TikTok: Leverages user-generated content and partnerships with creators to enhance engagement (30:47).
• YouTube: Produces sponsored videos with popular YouTubers staying in extraordinary properties, such as a Shrek-themed home (31:07).

Reed praises the effort but questions the practicality, noting that while such content generates brand awareness, it may not directly convert to bookings for the average user seeking typical accommodations (32:03).

Competition's Response to Airbnb's Messaging The discussion shifts to how competitors like Booking.com and Vrbo are positioning themselves in response to Airbnb. Miller advises against negatively targeting competitors in messaging, warning that it can inadvertently highlight the competition and strengthen their loyal customer base (28:14). Instead, he suggests focusing on Airbnb’s unique strengths without directly discrediting others.

Actionable Insights for Listeners Donald Miller and Kyle Reed provide practical advice for business owners aiming to refine their messaging:

1. Identify the Core Problem: Clearly articulate a problem your customers face that your product or service solves.
2. Ensure Clarity in Messaging: Avoid overly clever or vague taglines. Opt for straightforward language that conveys value without requiring interpretation.
3. Segment Your Audience: If targeting multiple customer groups, create distinct brand scripts for each to ensure tailored and effective communication.
4. Leverage StoryBrand.ai: Utilize tools like StoryBrand.ai to generate clear, actionable messaging that aligns with the StoryBrand Framework.

Reed emphasizes the importance of spending ample time identifying the right problem, likening it to establishing boundaries that facilitate focused and effective marketing strategies (37:37).

Conclusion The episode wraps up with a consensus that Airbnb's new messaging campaign, while ambitious and visually captivating, falls short in delivering clear and immediate value propositions compared to its previous efforts. Miller and Reed reiterate the paramount importance of clarity in marketing messages and the necessity for businesses to define and communicate their value succinctly.

Reed encourages listeners to utilize StoryBrand.ai for crafting clear, effective messaging and to engage with the StoryBrand Framework to enhance their marketing strategies. Both hosts highlight the success of their own resources, such as their recently released book, Building a Story Brand 2.0, and various tools designed to assist businesses in refining their messaging.

Notable Quotes:

• Donald Miller (07:06): "Belong anywhere can work, but it can only work if the name of your business and the concept, most importantly of your business is household."
• Donald Miller (05:24): "Elusive messaging or a slippery bowling ball."
• Donald Miller (20:14): "Clarity is where the money is. Clever is where you feel good about how smart you are, and that doesn't benefit you or anybody else."
• Donald Miller (37:38): "It's like that whole, you know, if you just get a little off track, you go so far over."
• Kyle Reed (25:15): "Imagine having the world's best communicator writing your tagline."

Key Takeaways:

• Clarity Over Cleverness: Clear, straightforward messaging is more effective in conveying value and driving customer action.
• Targeted Messaging: Separate brand scripts for distinct audience segments enhance the effectiveness of communication.
• Problem Identification: Clearly defining and articulating the core problem your product solves is crucial for resonating with customers.
• Consistent Application: Ensuring that all marketing channels consistently reflect the clear messaging framework strengthens brand recognition and customer engagement.

By dissecting Airbnb’s messaging strategy, Donald Miller and Kyle Reed provide valuable insights into effective marketing communication, emphasizing the essential elements that drive brand success.

Transcript

[Donald Miller]

Foreign.

[Kyle Reed]

You're listening to the why that Work podcast, presented by StoryBrand AI. If you've ever wondered why certain brands, trends, or cultural phenomena find success while others don't, you're in the right place. Every week, we unpack why something worked, then give you actionable insights that you can use in your own life. Now let's dive in with your hosts, Donald Miller and Kyle Reed.

Welcome back to the why that Worked podcast, where we discuss messaging campaigns that worked, why they worked, and how you can apply those ideas to your business. And today, we're talking about Airbnb's latest messaging campaign. Don. This grabbed my attention on a random moment. I was watching probably a sports game because that's the only time I watched a sports game. Sports game, basketball game in particular. And this commercial grabbed my attention, and I thought, what better place to talk about why it grabbed my attention on the one time I actually watched a commercial? Have you seen Airbnb's new kind of messaging campaign around their updated marketing? Have you seen those commercials with the animated figures?

[Donald Miller]

Only because I've heard you talk about them, so I paid attention a little bit. Actually, no, that's not true. I saw them on tv and I thought, something's going on here. That's interesting, but I don't know that I analyzed it very well.

[Kyle Reed]

Interesting.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah.

[Kyle Reed]

Well, how about this? Maybe to set the table for this conversation, what if we played one so the audience could hear what we're kind of referencing?

[Donald Miller]

Yeah.

[Kyle Reed]

And then we can react to it. What do you think about that?

[Donald Miller]

Okay. Yep.

[Kyle Reed]

All right, let me do that.

[Donald Miller]

When your hotel room is your bedroom and your living room and your dining room, maybe you need more than a hotel room. Get an Airbnb and get more space. They identified space as the problem.

[Kyle Reed]

Yes.

[Donald Miller]

Okay, so this is interesting as it relates to messaging. What you're looking for is to identify a problem that the broadest number of people understand very, very quickly, have experienced, and go ick to, or have a negative connotation to. So this makes me think of the many times I've gone to New York City, paid $600 for a hotel room because it's half the price of a normal hotel room at $600. And you can't get your suitcase between you and the bed.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah. They have a space issue.

[Donald Miller]

Chelsea Hotel.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

Now I'm probably gonna get people who are like, wait, Chelsea Hotel? It's, you know, it's where Sid and Nancy, like, killed each other. Whatever. I don't, you know, all the ghosts at the Chelsea Hotel and there's squatters there. And I was like, who gives a crap? I can't get my suitcase between me and the wall. Right. And then you're there. You know, God forbid you bring your wife. God, God. God forbid you bring a child.

[Kyle Reed]

Yes.

[Donald Miller]

You're all going to be standing on the bed having a conversation.

[Kyle Reed]

Yes. Yeah. And sleeping in the same bed.

[Donald Miller]

So big time. And look, hotel rooms are small.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

You know, the best hotels are like Holiday Inn Express. I mean, give me a break.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah. And you have like that side room.

[Donald Miller]

Desk and all that kind of stuff.

[Kyle Reed]

Has a fold out bed.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah, they're kind of roomy.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

So that's interesting.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah. So go back. I think you brought up an interesting point defining that problem. How do you do that? As you mentioned, to try to go as broad as possible to capture that audience.

[Donald Miller]

Well, here's. Yeah, here's. Yeah, you gotta have as many people go, been there. Yeah, been there. And that sucks. Yeah, been there and that sucks. Now think about the. Also the brilliance of what they're doing. Here you are about to pay money, arguably maybe a little more, a little less, I don't know. But pay money to go stay in somebody else's home. That is such a massive mystery. It's a black box investment. I don't know what I'm getting. Right. What if the home is cheap? What if there's like hair clogging up the drain in the shower? Somebody's half used soap is there. They had a cat. They didn't tell us they had a cat. And now I got a cat dander in my nostrils. All of the mysteries of the negative things that could go wrong if I rent somebody else's house for a few days are replaced when they define the negative.

[Kyle Reed]

Ah, I see. Okay.

[Donald Miller]

That's one of the reasons that. Listen in these messaging campaigns I do, I always say you've got to define the negative. Because if you define it, there's no room for anybody else to redefine it. If you define it strongly enough, it's all we're talking about.

[Kyle Reed]

Interesting.

[Donald Miller]

Does that make sense?

[Kyle Reed]

100%. Well, what's interesting is their old messaging before, before COVID kind of like 2018 was travel like a local. That was their big kind of.

[Donald Miller]

Can I tell you why I don't love that?

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah, go for it.

[Donald Miller]

Travel like a local. Makes me a little bit try to figure out what you're talking about.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

It's what I call elusive messaging. Elusive messaging or a slippery bowling ball. Every time you hand somebody a Message, you're handing them a bowling ball. And I use that to say you can't hand them too many. You know, people can handle about two, preferably one. You hand them three, and it's over. They'll drop them all. A slippery bowling ball is wrapping it in Vaseline and handing it to somebody. Right. Coating it in Vaseline, handing it to somebody. Now I can't hardly get purchase on it. So travel like a local. I sort of get what you mean, but let me just point out some obvious flaws to this. Do locals travel to the place they live?

[Kyle Reed]

No.

[Donald Miller]

So now you're causing me to actually go, well, something sounds wrong about that, but I can't figure out what sounds wrong about it. Also, what are the benefits? Like, if you just say, stay in a bigger space for cheaper. I don't have to do any math or do any thinking to try to understand what the benefit is there to me. But travel like a local. That's one of those mantras that those taglines that really, really expensive ad agencies give you, and then you end up doing less business because they gave it to you. And let me tell you how old. Travel like a local. Let me tell you how old the person was who wrote that. They were 26.

[Kyle Reed]

Okay. Why?

[Donald Miller]

26 is you don't know these rules yet, and you're looking for something that sounds clever rather than sounds clear, because it's really more about me, the messenger looking smart, than it is actually me conveying a very understandable idea.

[Kyle Reed]

Clever was the first word that came to mind was they were kind of breaking. You talk about the line. They're trying to be clever with what they were doing. And then it drove all their strategy and it moved them in a way that. You're right.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah. How much did Airbnb pay for that? Millions.

[Kyle Reed]

Well, they're new, so their new tagline. So I actually. I saw an interview with the CMO where he basically said, you know, pre pandemic, they were. They were kind of differentiated enough. Once Covid hit, they were obviously Covid, you know, limited travel. Coming out of COVID 2022, they launched a new campaign that they were working on. They delegated $700 million, by the way.

[Donald Miller]

Holy mackerel.

[Kyle Reed]

$700 million.

[Donald Miller]

I'll do it for 100 million.

[Kyle Reed]

But the new campaign was Belong Anywhere.

[Donald Miller]

God, that's the fricking Boy Scouts belong. That's the church down the street. That is awful.

[Kyle Reed]

Why?

[Donald Miller]

Why? Because, first of all, I don't know what that is. So if I said if I stopped Yesterday and said, hey, I have a business. And our tagline is Belong Anywhere. What do you think we do belong? You know. You know where Airbnb is going to come in on that list? 733,000 guests.

[Kyle Reed]

Yes.

[Donald Miller]

So if I said, you know, something like rent somebody else's house for half the price of a hotel room is our tagline, everybody would go, well, it sounds like you do something where you rent somebody else's house, they would get really close to Airbnb. Meaning that. Meaning I understand what you offer much, much quicker. So what happens is, now Belong Anywhere can work, but it can only work if the name of your business and the concept, most importantly of your business is household. Is household name.

[Kyle Reed]

Yes.

[Donald Miller]

Everybody already understands it. You know, we can market Coke Zero with might taste even better than Coke, or they actually do the best tasting Coke. You know why that works? Because people know what Coke tastes like.

[Kyle Reed]

It reminds me of a video you made. We put it out on our Instagram where you were reacting to a video where they were talking about, nike sells this. You know, Apple sells this. And you talked about there's only six to eight brands in the world who can market and, you know, kind of that. That inspirational.

[Donald Miller]

Who sort of have that. I mean, there's. There's a lot more. More than six. But, you know, we could probably all name six. Yes, that. That everybody understands. And. And so at that point, you can do kind of like ethereal branding.

[Kyle Reed]

Yes.

[Donald Miller]

And what happens is these smaller businesses try to do this sort of elusive, ethereal, artistic, clever branding, but nobody actually, they've never done marketing. And marketing is where you just explain to somebody what the value is so that they can buy it. I think it's that till at least 500 million. At least 500 million. And if everybody you're talking to is not already familiar with the value that you offer and the product that you sell, you can't do it.

[Kyle Reed]

Here's an interesting move they've made, though, with some new kind of commercial stuff. Is one of the taglines they're using in this is why get four hotel rooms when you can stay together for less.

[Donald Miller]

Come on. That's good.

[Kyle Reed]

That's good.

[Donald Miller]

That's good.

[Kyle Reed]

That's.

[Donald Miller]

That. Yeah, that's a story brand idea. And, you know, the idea is clear, clear, clear, clear, clear explanation of value, you know, and you don't have to think about that. Okay, so let me just explain this to any listeners who haven't heard me ever, because I think this is all I ever say. The brain actually Burns calories trying to process information. It burns calories trying to figure out a puzzle. It only wants to do puzzles. Figure things out about what will help it survive. Therefore, if you don't have short sound bites that describe your product, and if those sound bites aren't associated with my survival, I am not going to burn very many calories trying to understand what you're saying. Right. So if you give me an elusive tagline, it's gonna go in one ear and out the other, and it's wasted money. You have to be super, super clear. Kids love aquariums. Tagline I gave to a company. They dominate the fish food aquarium market and pet stores. Kids love aquariums. Put on everything. They're having trouble getting families to buy aquariums. A lot of hobbyists were buying aquariums. 99% increase in sales. Why? Because the parent doesn't have to think about what to buy to get something their kid loves. And even these giant brands who are household names and everybody else, they would still benefit from knocking all this clever garbage out. You know, just stop that. Stop trying to make yourself sound smart and try to start communicating with your customer.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah, and I want to pause on that because I think there's an actionable item here right away. We've already introduced. I actually took their kind of business through the story brand framework, and one of the things I think is Airbnb. Yeah. An actual item for people is to put their company. I mean, we preach this all the time. Put your company through the story brand framework.

[Donald Miller]

Meaning. Meaning filter your, offer your company, your whatever through the story brand framework and come out with seven sound bites you can use to populate all your marketing. That's what you mean when you put it through the filter.

[Kyle Reed]

So I think an actual item here for people listening to this is, if you haven't done that, go do that. But Let me StoryBrand AI StoryBrand A for free. So let me read it to you really quick. What I think Airbnb, when you put them through the framework.

[Donald Miller]

So they've not done this. This is us doing this.

[Kyle Reed]

This is us doing for them. For free. For free.

[Donald Miller]

You don't owe us anything. Now, let me translate this. The story of the framework starts with what does the character of the story, the hero of the story, want? You have to define what they want. Like, Benji wants to get back home. Bridget Jones wants to marry her boss. A story starts with a character who wants something. So you need to define one thing that your customer wants for Airbnb.

[Kyle Reed]

So I would say the character is looking for somewhere to stay in particular, they're looking to stay with their family would be a.

[Donald Miller]

You chose. You chose.

[Kyle Reed]

Yes, I kind of kept diving in on that. The problem that they're facing. So the next step in the framework is what is the problem that the.

[Donald Miller]

Character is arguably the most important talking point.

[Kyle Reed]

This is what the brain said. Hotels are cramped, impersonal and expensive. You can ensure that you have a great place to stay provided by an Airbnb host.

[Donald Miller]

So they chose cramped and personal. Expensive. That's. I mean, all three of those make sense.

[Kyle Reed]

Yep. The guide comes along, which is the Airbnb.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah.

[Kyle Reed]

So business.

[Donald Miller]

If you don't know the framework, the guide is your business. Who helps the hero win? Never position yourself as a hero. Always position yourself as a guide. Read my book if you want to know more. But the guide. And the guide needs an empathetic statement and also a statement of competency to position themselves as the guide. Okay, here's what it said.

[Kyle Reed]

Airbnb offers ease, trust and connection, helping both travelers and hosts succeed.

[Donald Miller]

Oh, that's a tough one. I mean, I would say storybrand AI did okay.

[Kyle Reed]

Okay.

[Donald Miller]

First of all, think of the challenge. You have two different customers, the one putting their home up, and we're asking artificial intelligence to actually position ourselves as the guide for both. I would rather have two brand scripts. It would have done a better job with two different brand scripts, but we did it for both. So read it to me again.

[Kyle Reed]

Airbnb offers ease, trust and connection, helping both travelers and hosts succeed.

[Donald Miller]

I don't like it. I don't like ease. Well, I like ease, and I would have stopped there. I think ease is stronger than ease, trust and connection. First of all, connection is elusive. Trust is a little elusive. I don't know why I need that. But Airbnb makes it easy for you to find a house in another city where your entire family can stay.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

Why do you need to add to that?

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah, and almost. You can apply a little bit to your point earlier, talking about wondering what the experience is going to be like. Ease kind of has trust built into it. Ease kind of does the heavy lifting. So let's just say Airbnb offers ease. And then the next step of the framework is they offer a plan so the business comes in or the guide. In this particular three step planet plan, which is book a space that feels like home, list your Airbnb, earn income effortlessly.

[Donald Miller]

Now, some of the reasons convoluted because you got two different.

[Kyle Reed]

Some of the reasons why is probably because the angle that I Was taking with. This was the challenge. And we'll get. I think we should get into this later.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah.

[Kyle Reed]

Is the challenge that Airbnb faces in their messaging. So stick around, because I think we should talk about this is is they have two people they're trying to message to. They're trying to message to host and consumers, and that's very tough to do. So the plan is book a home that feels like your space and then some of the other things, and then they give a call to action, which is the.

[Donald Miller]

Well, let's go back to the plan. Let's give them a plan. Let's give them.

[Kyle Reed]

That's more for consumers.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah. Just for the listeners. Let's give them one that's more for consumers. So book a home in another city. I would actually. I would actually preempt some concern. So I would say get easy access to the home, because the concern is where it's in somebody's neighborhood, they hit a key under a rock. Like, let's just prevent that.

[Kyle Reed]

Use the ease again.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah. Get ease of access to home and then enjoy your stay without the inconvenience of a hotel. You know, I would just do those three steps. And that needs to be. That needs to be on your website, in your lead generators, in your emails, those sorts of things.

[Kyle Reed]

Call to Action is booked with Airbnb. Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

Call to Action is the next sound.

[Kyle Reed]

But maybe they actually even added another one. They verbed it out Airbnb it. So that. Yep. That's to that.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah.

[Kyle Reed]

You're making people look side.

[Donald Miller]

You have to burn, like, 4 calories, which is not many. But why. Let's get to everything where you burn zero. The other thing is, I don't know that I would say what was. There's there. The one that AI gave you.

[Kyle Reed]

Book an Airbnb.

[Donald Miller]

Book an Airbnb. Yeah. I mean, that's not bad. I would actually just say book your Airbnb now.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah. More clear.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah, it's a little bit more clear. It's also a command. Do this now.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah, that's true.

[Donald Miller]

And those are very powerful.

[Kyle Reed]

My favorite part of the framework is where you paint the negative and positive or the success and failure of your. You know, if they do this or don't do this.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah. So there's two more sound bites. What's your life gonna look like if you buy the product? And what is your life gonna look like if you don't?

[Kyle Reed]

So if you buy the product, it's. You experience the local life, stay together, make money while you're away. So again, kind of playing up the two audiences.

[Donald Miller]

Okay, gotcha. Yeah.

[Kyle Reed]

And then the failure is you stay stuck in a cramp hotel.

[Donald Miller]

Okay. Yeah, obviously we're getting a convoluted brand script because we really took two brand scripts and tried to combine them, which doesn't work. What you would do is you would take StoryBrand AI and you would make two different brand scripts.

[Kyle Reed]

Which side note on that, for those using StoryBrand AI, if you've seen that, we actually introduced a new tool where you can actually create separate brand scripts inside of your company, which I think is a really cool new feature.

[Donald Miller]

You create as many brand scripts as you want inside of storybrand AI, but you can also create different campaigns.

[Kyle Reed]

Correct.

[Donald Miller]

So like Airbnb, the brand script is foundational for your lead generators, your email.

[Kyle Reed]

Which I think is a really cool kind of feature we just added in.

[Donald Miller]

It sounds like we're knocking storybrand AI. First of all, let me point out some things before I knock my own product. One is nobody will ever be a better writer than me. I'm never going to admit that that's the first thing. The second thing is storybrand AI got that initial messaging that some of which I've poo pooed better than almost anybody listening. This would have done in an hour and it did it in three minutes. So that's. And also then the third thing is this. It's a rough draft. You've got to sit there and look at it and go, use your mind to say, okay, will that really connect with my customers? If not, why not? And then tell the AI why it won't and then regenerate it to give you a better sound bite there.

[Kyle Reed]

It also is a massive jumping off point. Right. You take a super broad, like, how do we run a marketing campaign or messaging campaign for Airbnb? It gives you a good jumping off point. And then kind of you do the thing where the expert comes in, the guide comes into the room and goes, well, let's tweak this a little bit. There's actually a really cool thing I.

[Donald Miller]

Would do for a tagline for those guys. I would actually say, why book a hotel when you could book a house, you know, or something like that? And again, very strong family. Because some people would go, well, I'll book a hotel because, you know, it's one room. I don't need a whole house. I don't, you know, mysteries of that. But, you know, something along those lines might. Might be something that they should explore, especially when it comes to families. And by the way, you can create a story, brand, brand script and entire campaign for Airbnb. To families, to bachelorette parties, to business travelers, to executive leadership teams who need to get together at some resort and don't want to stay at a resort. They want to stay in a really nice home, to youth groups, to whatever you want. All those things can be completely different campaigns. And they're going to have slightly different messaging on each of those, if you wanted to take.

[Kyle Reed]

And I think this is a good jumping off point, because what I find fascinating about these conversations is when. When you nail that tagline. So we talked earlier about the, you know, the initial. They're kind of their new brand. You kind of like. I don't like that to belong anywhere. Nailing the, the tagline, though, where you said book, why book a hotel when you could book a home? What I find fascinating is when you nail that, it's such an amazing jumping off point for all your other marketing. Yeah, right.

[Donald Miller]

Because it would have been a great out of the gate tagline when people didn't know what Airbnb was.

[Kyle Reed]

Yes. Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

You know, that would have been, why book a hotel when you could book somebody's home? That explains the entire concept in one short sentence. And everybody listening to this podcast is in that position. Almost nobody listening to this has a household name brand. You're all small businesses sub $5 million usually. You cannot afford to confuse people. Right. And so you need something that's that clear. You know, why book a hotel room when you could book somebody's home? And I like somebody's home, because it actually explains, oh, this is somebody's renting out their home, you know, for a week or whatever. So, you know, the bottom line is, I think the controlling idea of the conversation so far, and I realize we're not done, is be clear, not clever. Because clarity is where the money is. Clarity is where the success is. Clever is where you feel good about how smart you are, and that doesn't benefit you or anybody else at all.

[Kyle Reed]

Loses you money.

[Donald Miller]

Loses you money. Yeah. Your cleverness is losing you money.

[Kyle Reed]

Well, and if you think about it, it's like that whole, you know, if you just get a little off track, you go so far over. So if you, if you try to be clever, all your other marketing campaigns.

[Donald Miller]

That come behind that foundation, we call it the controlling idea.

[Kyle Reed]

And it's so strong because I think what it does is when you nail that, when you identify the problem, when you give them a solution and you nail that talking point, the amount of creativity that then Comes behind that in mess. And that's why that ad we played earlier is so strong.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah.

[Kyle Reed]

Because they nailed it.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah.

[Kyle Reed]

Why, why stay in the same room? Why, when you put your kids down at 7:00 at night, what do you do? You're stuck. You know what I mean?

[Donald Miller]

Like, I've been there, I've been there.

[Kyle Reed]

And so it's like they, they realize that that was.

[Donald Miller]

Your wife is slipping out for an hour and then you're, you're, she's coming back in and you're slipping out for an hour.

[Kyle Reed]

But I love that idea of even talking about where you can create separate messaging campaigns, which I think if you go to like kind of the social media side, all your content, your ads, when you run them through those same target audience, why book a hotel room?

[Donald Miller]

You could build somebody's house, for instance, this guy's house, and then show a picture of the house on social media.

[Kyle Reed]

Yep.

[Donald Miller]

For instance, this lady's house, for instance, this family's house. For instance, this house with a hot tub. For instance, this house where you, you know, whatever. So, you know, once you get clear, you iterate on clarity, iterate on clever.

[Kyle Reed]

And making a 15 second spot is really hard to do. Yeah, that is really hard to do. But when you're clear on it, it actually becomes easy.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah. Because you know, the idea that you're trying to reinforce in 15 seconds.

[Kyle Reed]

Correct. Yep. That's so strong. I think another jumping off point for us too. So just to recap there, going through the branch, getting clarity, getting a controlling idea for your business is just, it's foundational to what?

[Donald Miller]

Right.

[Kyle Reed]

What? Anybody.

[Donald Miller]

Those seven sound bites.

[Kyle Reed]

100%. The next step, though, I think is there's probably people listening to this who might be in that struggle of selling to two different target markets. And I think that's Airbnb's biggest challenge.

[Donald Miller]

Well, even A.I. you read the A.I. brand script that we created, or A.I. created for us, it couldn't even really do it. Well, five of those talking points were good, two of them weren't. And the two that weren't good were because it was trying to create two brand scripts in one. You've got to actually narrow it down and create one for the consumer, one for the host, one for the customer, one for the B and B market, one for the B2C market. Sometimes, let's say I'm selling a bottle of shampoo through Walgreens, I got to have two brand scripts. One is the buyer at Walgreens who's interested in stuff Moving off of their shelf. They don't care about the shampoo. They want a product they can sell for eight bucks, moving three fast. Then I've got to create a brand script for the actual person who's looking at the bottle of shampoo, wondering why they should buy it. And, you know, this is for frizzy hair. This is for oily hair. This is for if you don't have any hair, you know, whatever it is, you know, those brand scripts have to be created separately, and then the messaging on each of those has to be.

[Kyle Reed]

Put in separate places and it drives strategy from there.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah, yeah.

[Kyle Reed]

That was one of my favorite things when we were working on the radio drama. So we released, for those listening don't know about this, we released a radio drama of the story, brand, book, book itself. And in that story, I won't ruin all of it.

[Donald Miller]

It is a fictional story about two brothers trying to.

[Kyle Reed]

Two brothers try to go pitch a product, but they pitch it in the wrong way because they didn't know who they were pitching it to.

[Donald Miller]

They pitched. They pitched the. The retail brand script to the wholesale buyer and they failed. Now we're giving away the whole story. Well, it's called Pete and Joe Save Their Mother's Company. You can find it on audible, audible, YouTube, everywhere.

[Kyle Reed]

So go check that out if you have not listened to that yet. It's a great walkthrough of just the first framework we just did. But I think that's another kind of like just pause moment for people listening to this as well. And even for myself, as I think about our marketing is who are we.

[Donald Miller]

Talking to, who are you talking to and what's the problem? They will very, very quickly identify and feel.

[Kyle Reed]

Yep.

[Donald Miller]

You know, checking into a hotel room, that's disappointingly small. By the way, Airbnb, steal those words. Disappointingly small is something everybody has experienced.

[Kyle Reed]

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Other companies do kind of the same thing that Airbnb does. There's a couple bookings.com, or booking.com.

[Donald Miller]

Oh, booking you can. I thought that was just hotel rooms. Is that now houses and stuff.

[Kyle Reed]

Houses too. They split it and then. Vrbo.

[Donald Miller]

Vrbo.

[Kyle Reed]

Okay. So I again use the brain to kind of help me work through this.

[Donald Miller]

And we talk about the brain. It's the story. Brand brain. Yeah.

[Kyle Reed]

So what the brain gave me back was said, hey, contrast these other brands with Airbnb and then what are their focuses? So Airbnb had said they provide unique spaces, emotional belongings, experiences and long term game. Booking.com is their core focus is practical, real time deals, event based urgency. So that's what they focus on for their marketing. Vrbo is privacy, traditional vacation rentals, whole home stays.

[Donald Miller]

I bring these are real focuses for each of these. But so I just went and found the real. It didn't. It didn't. Wasn't being creative.

[Kyle Reed]

Well, yes, and what I find fascinating about this is I feel like vrbo and booking.com are reacting to Airbnb in their marketing. So they're trying to position, they're trying.

[Donald Miller]

To find a little corner of the market that differentiates.

[Kyle Reed]

They're trying to position Airbnb somewhat to me as the villain. So if you look at their marketing messages online, I don't think that's a good idea. I don't either. And I think that they're, they're, they're, even if you watch in hotels, are actually starting to do this too. Interesting enough is they're trying to play on the negatives of what Airbnb is to get you to come stay with them. And I was curious, what are your thoughts on that?

[Donald Miller]

Two different things. One is I know that you're frustrated with your competition and I know that you know that you're better than them. And I know that you know you love the customer more than they do. Your customer doesn't care and they don't even really know it. All you need to do is invite your customer into a better story than them. And let me just also point this out. If you start talking about them, you're giving them some attention. And now they're going to do a little due diligence as to which one of these two to choose from when you really should have just ignored them. Politicians deal with this all the time. Do we go negative? Well, if we go negative, we're actually talking about the competition, and we're probably making their fans even more evangelist about them, because now we're pushing on the. You go out and you talk negatively about Taylor Swift and see if the number of Taylor Swift fans decrease or whether or not you're going to get hung. Right. And I just wouldn't do it. Now, as it relates to hotels, you can do this very subtly, right? You can say, we know you have a choice between a hotel or, you know, whatever an Airbnb is, whatever that industry is, then I would actually just say, let me just ask you one question. Does Airbnb have a spa? Let me just ask you one question. Does Airbnb have a restaurant? Right. And then just say, let me just ask a question. Who's going to make the bed at your Airbnb while you're away? That's it?

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah, just.

[Donald Miller]

That's it. That's all you have to do. Because then you're going, oh, okay, I get it. Yeah. The value is very clear.

[Kyle Reed]

Is it the distinctions that make you different? Is that kind of.

[Donald Miller]

It's not necessarily the distinctions. It's the things you want to. Everything is about what you're going to point a spotlight at. Now, if you're Airbnb, you want your messaging to point a spotlight at the benefits that you offer that nobody else can offer. If you're a hotel, you want to point the spotlight at the benefits that you offer that Airbnb can offer. The picture is all the same. It's just, where are you bringing somebody's attention? The reality is you do get a bigger space at an Airbnb, a much bigger, probably better experience for your family. But how do you know if the bathrobe has been cleaned or if there's going to be a bathrobe at all? Nobody's going to come in and change the bed sheets in the middle of the afternoon while you're away. There's no room service that you can call and get a burger in the middle of the night. You see what I'm saying? So what you need to do as a business owner is stop worrying about the ways the competition is better than you and start thinking about the way you are better than the competition and just shine a spotlight at that. And then let people choose. Let people pick which one they want, and you're going to be fine if you do that. And so be really careful about internalizing too much of the competition and what they're doing in the market. And just think about serving your customer.

[Kyle Reed]

Yep, that's good. I think that's really practical advice that I think a lot of business owners or brands struggle with figuring out the direction there. One other thing I want to get into, I'm very interested in the way that they've taken their messaging and kind of tried to share that across all platforms. I think the commercials are doing great. The commercials will grab your attention. They're quick, they're really good. If you actually go to the YouTube, they're their top videos on their YouTube.

[Donald Miller]

That's now that says.

[Kyle Reed]

Which is saying something.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah.

[Kyle Reed]

That's in the. Upwards of 40 million views.

[Donald Miller]

People don't like watching commercials. And that's. That's kind of amazing.

[Kyle Reed]

Even if thinking about it too just did not go down this rabbit hole. But a 15 second ad that's strong, that runs as a pre roll on a YouTube video is so powerful.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah.

[Kyle Reed]

But one of the things I want to get into this with you on was the way that they're taking their mission and message out right now across social media is, is I find fascinating. And I kind of did a little bit of a deep dive on their three kind of main platforms they focus on, and that is Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. So looking at their content, if you go on their Instagram, most of their content centers around people who host, who have host homes taking pictures of their spaces.

[Donald Miller]

Okay.

[Kyle Reed]

But if I just take a picture of my home, that's not very interesting. So they're pulling out these grand.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah.

[Kyle Reed]

You know, in Fiji and the Coliseum and like these just amazing, like places.

[Donald Miller]

That you can rent.

[Kyle Reed]

Yes. TikTok is all user generated content. So they're partnering with creators on TikTok on the platform, which they're actually doing a good job of utilizing the platform.

[Donald Miller]

So Airbnb's TikTok is all user generated.

[Kyle Reed]

Correct. But they're also partnering with big creators to get them to spread their message. Okay. So that's their kind of big campaign to get attention on YouTube. They're doing a little bit more of value for host. So they're kind of talking about some strategies, but they're also partnering with big YouTubers to go and stay at these crazy places. So like for instance, someone built a Shrek model home and they had a big YouTuber who went and stayed there and that was kind of their sponsored video.

[Donald Miller]

Very cool.

[Kyle Reed]

I find it interesting that they're creating this kind of I ideal, like romantic situation where you want to go, oh, that would be amazing to stay in that incredible cabin, you know, in the. In the foothills of whatever, you know, town. But yet most people going after an Airbnb are looking for a spot that they can take their.

[Donald Miller]

So you would say this is not a good.

[Kyle Reed]

I just. I think it's. I think it's doing some of the. Here's what I would say. I think it's doing some of the work. But they're going after vanity metrics, they're going after the quick clips.

[Donald Miller]

So watching a. You can rent the Coliseum may or may not be a target market, and they're missing an opportunity to actually pitch their real product to the target market.

[Kyle Reed]

And one could argue that, hey, they're getting attention, and then it makes you think of Airbnb in your head, and then you go, well, I should go book them for my next trip. I just think they're missing the mark because they're creating this idea of what could be, but it's never a reality and you kind of just skip over it. So they're chasing these quick likes. He's quick.

[Donald Miller]

I hear you. And I agree. I think what I like about it, to push back, because you're making very, very fair points. To push back. I would say they're already covering those bases. And they're already covering those bases even in their television ads.

[Kyle Reed]

Okay. Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

YouTube is about being provocative. It's about watching something that's interesting. It's an entertainment medium in itself. It's a bit of an edutainment thing. I would say that when Airbnb comes out and says, you can rent the Coliseum.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

You know, which they have. That's. Which is kind of amazing. That's a great one. It's very hard these days to get attention. And so you're creating a ton of brand awareness. But also it's similar to the reason that, like Ford, Mercedes, Ferrari, BMW lose enormous amounts of money creating Formula one cars. They're losing money on all that. But what they're doing is they're associating a supercar with the Ford that you can go down and buy at the local. Whatever. And that, to me, is not. That's not necessarily a bad idea. They're associating a Ford. Ford Raptor truck with this formula. Actually, I don't think they're in Formula One, but they would be NASCAR and maybe IndyCar, I don't know. But with something that's just really frickin sexy and interesting and entertaining. But I think it's pretty smart for them to do that. So I think it's A similar play. Now, again, not something that Acme Plumbing is going to benefit from.

[Kyle Reed]

Well, that's what I was going to ask you. What's the difference? If I'm a business owner, how do I do decide? Do I go after this aspirational identity that I want to create or do I go after a very practical resource driven.

[Donald Miller]

It's practical resource all frickin day long with the occasional attention getting thing. And the attention getting thing can be left out. Once everybody knows who you are, what you do, and there's no more sort of cognitive dissonance about the value you offer and how I engage that value, I think you can start playing with high level branding and attention getting. And there's no question it will benefit. You'll benefit from it. Yeah.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah. It's been a fun conversation. I think it's fun.

[Donald Miller]

I think it's been super, super helpful. Yeah.

[Kyle Reed]

To beat around a tagline.

[Donald Miller]

Would you give them like on a scale of. On A plus to F minus, I.

[Kyle Reed]

Would give him a strong B plus.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah, me too.

[Kyle Reed]

And the reason, maybe even a minus because I think we talked about the belong somewhere kind of idea. I agree with you. It's a little vague. I think the way they've.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah. Belong somewhere. That's. That's hurting you're. Hurting you. In my opinion, the way they've rolled. That's why I give you a B. I'm not going to give you an A because it belongs. Give me a break.

[Kyle Reed]

The way they've rolled it out I think has been very clever. I think it's really strong. I think they've eliminated a lot of negatives about their, you know, they've kind of moved away from some of the negatives that people might have. I think they've nailed it on their messaging around. Why take a family trip if you don't stay together and you know, a hotel room.

[Donald Miller]

The most important thing that you do in a messaging campaign is identify the problem and communicate it very, very clearly. What would you say for most of our small to medium sized business owners that they can take from what Airbnb is doing? I've got one. I mean, that we've already said many times, identify the fricking problem that your customer has. Communicate it very clearly in such a way that everybody just feels it. You say it no matter what you do. There is some kind of problem now here. I can already feel the business owners going, well, you know, it's a problem, but they don't know they have the problem. I have to explain it Sorry, You've got to come up with some other way of communicating. You got to come up with or some other problem that you help them solve and the one that they really benefit from because it requires so much explanation, you're just not going to be able to talk about that one. You could talk about it later, but you can't talk about it at top as far as top of funnel messaging. So identify a problem is the, is the really, really big one.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah, that was one I was going to tack on and I think to add a little bit more with you on that because I 100% agree. That's what I was thinking was, was if you're struggling to get attention, if you're struggling to get sales, if you're struggling to grow, it might be time to go back to that problem and figure out are you talking about. And it seems to me the thing that's locking in my brain is it's almost like you have to spend 4x the amount of time identifying the right problem. And then once you establish that boundary, you know, that's a big thing of mine, is when you can get boundaries in your marketing messaging. It's kind of like a highway. You know, if there's lanes that you can follow, it's really easy to drive. There's no lanes. If you're all over the place, it's very hard to drive. So identifying the problem, starting with that boundary, the amount of creativity that comes from that is endless.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah.

[Kyle Reed]

Because then you can run every marketing messaging campaign you've ever wanted to do.

[Donald Miller]

It's an analogy would be you've got, you're shooting a gun and you've got nine blanks and one actual real bullet. And they all look the same. You're going to, you're going to fire. You look at the target. There's no hole. That was a blank, blank, blank. Bam. There's a hole. That's our, that's our message.

[Kyle Reed]

And let's go.

[Donald Miller]

And let's go. We're now we're going to keep shooting that bullet. Obviously, the analogy breaks down, but we're going to keep shooting that one over and over and over until it stops working. There's another question real quick. People go, how long do we do it till it stops working?

[Kyle Reed]

Until it stops working?

[Donald Miller]

Yeah. It's 20 years. It's 20 years. Just keep using it. Well, we're tired of it. We've been using it. It's time for a refresh. Is it working then? It's not time for a refresh. So Anyway, you're looking for the bullet that actually works, and that's the problem that people identify with.

[Kyle Reed]

Yep, agreed. Love that. And if you want to get more clarity on your message, on your tagline, on your brand script, we have created all this for you at StoryBrand AI. The great news about this StoryBrand AI.

[Donald Miller]

Bullets that work.

[Kyle Reed]

Bullets that work.

[Donald Miller]

No, that's. That's a. I don't think that's gonna.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah, maybe we should. Maybe we should run that through the tagline.

[Donald Miller]

We probably should.

[Kyle Reed]

But go to storybrand AI. You can do all this for free. There's amazing resources there for you to use if you need to kind of figure out what your problem is. Go try out storybrand AI. And if you wanna learn more about the storybrand framework, check out Don's new book. We just released the 2.0 versions book, Building a Story Brand, out in January. It's been out a couple months, doing really well, so go check that out.

[Donald Miller]

Selling more copies now than it has ever sold before.

[Kyle Reed]

Amazing.

[Donald Miller]

It is amazing.

[Kyle Reed]

Thanks for listening and we want to hear your feedback on Airbnb. What do you think of their messaging campaign? Leave us a comment. We'd love to read it for now. Thanks for joining us. Always help us out by hitting subscribe. Leaving us a review helps us tremendously. And we will see you next week for another great conversation about what makes messaging works and why those ideas are great for your business. Thanks for listening.

[Donald Miller]

Thanks, everybody.

[Kyle Reed]

Thanks for listening to the why that Worked podcast presented by StoryBrand AI. If you like the show, follow wherever you get your podcasts. And if you're Enjoying this on YouTube, hit that subscribe button and leave a comment letting us know what you think and what you want the guys to talk about in a future episode. Curious about how StoryBrand AI can help you create clear, effective methods messaging? Well, you can try it out right now and create a free customized tagline for your business. Just go to storybrand AI. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next time.