Airbnb CEO on controversial bus shelter ads: The agency did it
A wise client once said: When in doubt, blame your ad agency.
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky did as much in this week’s episode of the Recode Decode podcast, when host Kara Swisher asked him about his company’s tone deaf bus shelter ads that ran in San Francisco, poking fun at public services like the library.
“The ad agency approved it and one person in our company saw it,” he said.
Chesky didn’t name the agency, but TBWA/Chiat/Day Los Angeles won the account in early September and created those ads. He explained that Airbnb was growing so fast that the campaign, an effort to counter the thought that Airbnb doesn’t pay its fair share in taxes, didn’t get enough attention internally.
Dear @Airbnb These passive-aggressive bus kiosk ads are *not cool* No love, the librarians https://t.co/rdo39E7sdz pic.twitter.com/Lf3TCAYYbw
— jessamyn west (@jessamyn) October 21, 2015
“The moment we saw it, we knew,” he told Swisher. “People were outraged and we were really embarrassed internally.”
Airbnb has been fighting a very public battle in San Francisco against Proposition F, a ballot proposal that would regulate short-term rentals. Opponents to Airbnb tried to get the board and the mayor of the city to repeal the law, and eventually, it went to a ballot. That led to a lot of misunderstanding and confusion of the issues, Chesky said.
“The crazy thing was, these posters had nothing to do with the campaign,” Chesky said in the podcast. “But it seemed like it was related to this fight and it made us look like jerks.”
Of course, brands blaming agencies is a time-honored tradition: Nissan blamed its ad agency for a tweet about Tesla last year. Earlier this year, an ad starring Indian actress Aishwarya Rai holding a dark-skinned child was called racist: Rai immediately blamed the agency. And back in 2011, when Durex tweeted a horribly sexist joke, it said its agency, Euro RCSG, was to blame.
-
Why a sports betting company will brand the new train line to MetLife Stadium
As part of this effort, a variety of print and digital assets have been developed, as well as the official rebranding of all of the NJ Transit system's signage and advertising to accommodate the new rail line. A clear understanding of the financial agreement was not provided.
-
How Squarespace is marketing more directly to the creator economy
With new features and ads, Squarespace is the latest tech company to market more directly to creators
-
Member ExclusiveMarketing Briefing: With pressure mounting on Q4, some marketers are planning to roll out holiday sales early
Marketers are rolling out holiday marketing and sales early as economic uncertainty persists and pressure builds for the fourth quarter.
-
Sponsored<strong>How marketers are responding to shoppers’ wants this holiday season</strong>
Matthew Tilley, executive director, marketing, Vericast With the holidays right around the corner, the economy may force some consumers to adjust their plans and stretch their dollars even further. While some shoppers may rein in their spending, others will still go all out despite a cloudy economic outlook. Given the current economic climate, consumers are […]
-
Member ExclusiveDigiday+ Research: Who will gain and who will lose when (if?) the third-party cookie goes away?
There is endless speculation about what the world without third-party cookies will look like -- or even if it will ever come to be. Digiday asked publishers, agencies and brands about who they think will gain and who they think will lose following the death of the third-party cookie.
-
‘Multiplier effect’: Lower match rates in data clean rooms are being given a much-needed boost
Publishers looking for a bit of good news in their search for sustainable ways to scale their data sans third-party cookies may have got some thanks to data clean rooms.
