Ad of the week: Airbnb's Mankind posters

After the launch of their TV ad for their global "mankind" campaign in July, AirBnB have now began their out-door campaign. Ensuring that the adverts speak with a single voice,the posters echo the sentiments of the TV advert, which features a baby walking towards a windowed door as a voiceover invites viewers to explore the essence of mankind.  The ads want us to find out how kind the people of this world are by.......sleeping in someone else's bed? Ok, say what you want about the underlying message, but how the message has been presented is intriguing.

The posters typically feature two things; the brand logo and the hashtag. Some people may think that TBWA\Chiat\Day had run out of advertising ideas, but far from it. Often an ad can say too much and requires so much thought on the part the viewer that he/she becomes disinterested. On the contrary, these posters epitomise simplicity. One logo, One hashtag. And in some cases its either one or the another. Instead of boring the individual, it piques their interest. What is this mankind thing all about? Even if you had seen the TV ad you still might not put two and two together, so you are equally left bemused.  The technique being employed here is "pull" marketing. As modern consumers we don't just sit back and let the adverts tell what the best products are, we find that out for ourselves. TBWA\Chiat\Day are utilising our new found desire to be in the know by inviting us to go exploring. By saying very little and just giving us a hashtag, they are coaxing us to pull out our smartphones and search for it on twitter. You can look at this in two ways: Clever marketing or lazy marketing. I for one think it's genius!