Airbnb Essay

1102 Words3 Pages

Various elements of the brand strategy, such as the role of emotion, brand equity and brand identity, are interdependent on each other. Change of one element results in changes in another, but the consistency of all can build a strong brand. Brands can be divided into two categories, functional brands and symbolic brands. Airbnb does not only provide a platform for hosts and guests to interact, it also has a grand mission and vision to build a more inclusive community. As a symbolic brand, the use of symbolism is of importance in strategy. A look on the symbolism of the brand Airbnb and its relation to consumer, corporate and society will be developed in the following paragraphs.

The term “symbolism” is related to different disciplines of …show more content…

Muniz and O 'Guinn (2001, p.412) first introduced brand community as “a specialized, non-geographically bound community, based on a structured set of social relations among admirers of a brand”. Airbnb’s brand community is consisted of hosts and guests, where they leave feedback for their counterparts and share their Airbnb stories and experiences, be it good or bad, with their families or friends or post them on social platforms. Apart from some promotion materials curated by the brand, most of the contents on Airbnb are user-generated. They write stories, share them, comment on them and even promote the service. In Airbnb’s model, users are more engaged in the brand community. Far from merely making use of the community, they are growing it, making it robust, emotional and personal. These user-generated contents will build stronger and deeper brand-customer relationships (Van den, Bulte & Wuyts, 2007). Additionally, more interactions between users will emerge and gradually a sense of belonging and attachment will be strengthened, which means brand loyalty of those interacting users have risen to a new

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