Why radio should be on Airbnb’s radar

On Tuesday, Radiocentre launched the fourth instalment of its latest radio campaign. The campaign aims to make chief marketing officers of major brands famous through bespoke songs, encouraging them to reappraise the brand-building potential of the medium.  Keith Weed, Craig Inglis and Hugh Pile have all been targeted in the campaign by way of rap, folk and indie rock tributes respectively. The latest CMO on the playlist is Jonathan Mildenhall of Airbnb. A surprising choice, you might say, given that Airbnb is a darling of the tech industry and that Mildenhall has said himself that he’d be the ‘first to jump into bed with VR’. Why would he choose to advertise on good old radio?

For several reasons, in fact. Airbnb’s ‘Belong anywhere’ proposition hinges on the empowerment that comes from living like a local. More than any other channel, radio represents community and companionship, delivered through spontaneous spoken word on air rather than considered written dialogue online. With Brexit predicted to see a rise in the so-called UK ‘staycation’, holiday makers will be looking for value as well as adventure in their holiday choices. Radio is well positioned to raise awareness for Airbnb on a local level.

Last year, investment from tech-led brands including Google and Netflix pushed TV advertising revenue in the UK past £5 billion much to the delight of our friends at Thinkbox. Tech companies realise the importance of the reach which remains unparalleled by broadcast channels. What didn’t make the papers, however, is that Netflix also allocates 16% of its media budget to radio. For lots of tech brands, radio remains a savvy way to amplify media spend. Uber, Just Eat and Hive all have radio firmly on the plan as an efficient and cost-effective means to grow broad brand awareness, all at a time when Facebook admits that a ‘Like’ is pretty much worthless and big players such as P&G are cutting back on targetted online ads and reverting investment back to traditional channels. Online brands built on traditional advertising is nothing new of course: aggregator sites such as Comparethemarket.com, and Moneysupermarket.com as well as Ebay, Microsoft and Google have been significant investors in TV and radio for years, but with advertisers increasingly unwilling to invest in production and having to spread budget across multiple platforms, radio represents an attractive and creative supplement to – or even a substitute for – TV advertising.

Digital technologies represent a huge opportunity for business and consumer power, yet traditional advertising remains the most effective means for them to grow their marketing muscle. Jonathan has already tweeted his appreciation of “his” ad and we hope that this is just the beginning. Jonathan Mildenhall: we’re waiting for your call…