Airbnb How to Host
Hosts are the heart of Airbnb. From creating one-of-a-kind properties, to hosting unique experiences, to opening up an entire world of local delights: the hosts are what make Airbnb truly exceptional.
To celebrate these incredible individuals, we partnered with AirBnb to craft a video series highlighting individual stories and hosting styles, each supported with their own tailored animation and visual style.
Video stories as unique as the hosts they portray.
Identities as unique as each host
Part of the allure of Airbnb is the platform feels very bespoke and high touch fo guests and hosts alike. To reflect those values, we developed nine unique visual styles for each of the hosts portrayed.
These How to Host videos ultimately helped foster stronger connections between viewers and hosts, launched new ideas for experiences, and served as a way of continuing to elevate Airbnb’s core brand idea of Belong Anywhere.
Bespoke video portraiture, with animation to bring it home
Each video dove into the particular personality of the host, the aesthetics of their property, and the environment of their location. The treatments varied widely—from collage style graphics to playful illustrations, to minimalist line work or hand-drawn type—each style was carefully chosen to capture the spirit of each host.
Allow us to nerd out on the technicals
This project posed a fun and significant challenge of how to shoot each frame to maximize the opportunity for animation. We worked alongside the production crew at every step, sharing our concepts and sketches, sharing input on how shots were framed to maximize space for animation, and being on call during shooting days to ensure everything looked just right.
Taking a closer look inside the story
One of our very favorite videos, “How to Craft a Story” perfectly personified this project. It featured the story of hosts Teresa and David, and their property Camp Wandawega. Through thoughtful planning and research during pre-production, we were able to leverage the details of the property and it’s history to create illustrated vignettes and thoughtful edits that paint a rich picture of the hosts and their story in an immersive way.