The big idea: SLEEP WITH SHARKS.

That gets your attention, doesn’t it?

Sharks are among the most feared--and most misunderstood--animals in the world.

Children and adults alike dread the water’s depths, imagining that a shark invisibly encircles them. Yet we are more likely to die by a falling coconut, popping champagne cork or taking a selfie than by an attack from this creature.

In 2016, Airbnb and the Paris Aquarium gave three lucky winners (one from EMEA, one from APAC and one from The Americas) a chance to sleep in the first-ever submarine bedroom among 35 majestic beings. And change the way they see sharks forever.

When we say sleep with the sharks, we mean sleep with the sharks. We built a 360-degree submarine room submerged in the middle of a giant shark aquarium at the Aquarium de Paris (the first aquarium built anywhere in the world.)

Three lucky winners and theirs guests were welcomed by host, Fred Buyle, a world record-breaking freediver, underwater photographer, and shark enthusiast. He swam alongside the sharks, the ideal introduction to your neighbors for the night.

We implemented the PR plan above and the story caught fire, generating more than 300 media hits in the first 24 hours, which sparked more sign-ups and entries.

1,000+ media stories, worldwide

63,000 entries (a record for Airbnb contests/promotions) from 165 countries

28,686 new customer sign-ups

The custom room was donated to the Aquarium to be used by scientists to conduct research on shark behavior

TWITTER

27.5 million Twitter impressions

INSTAGRAM

Shark Instagram series is one of the most most commented on IG post of all time for the company. 76,800 views of the video (8.2k likes and 1,392 comments in first 24 hours)

FACEBOOK

3.3K likes, 2,2k shares, and 1.6k comments

The contest was a clear example of response-driven creativity: a 9-day contest designed to drive customer engagement and new sign-ups. It was the most successful promotion in company history, generating more than 63,000 entries, 28,686 new customer sign-ups, and 1,000+ media stories in less than a month.

TARGET: Consumer

DIRECT & SOCIAL: Email to European Airbnb members, announcement on Airbnb Facebook, Instagram and Twitter page.

CTA: Enter now! A short entry period (9 days) encouraged quick response. Site registration required for entry to contest, motivating new sign-ups

PR APPROACH: We offered two exclusives, followed closely by a global press release on the day of the contest launch, and international follow-up with media

We invited media to come and film during the photoshoot at the Aquarium and gave them access to all the spokespeople (Aquarium CEO, Airbnb representative, host and free diver Fred Buyle, and the room’s architect).

Global Press Release: Send out to consumer and lifestyle media in France, UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, USA, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, China, Singapore, S.Korea, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.

Airbnb is a community marketplace for people to list, discover and unique accommodations around the world. In the last eight years, more than 80 million people have done just that.

We were inspired by members listing incredible places (a plane in Costa Rica, a private island in Fiji, a giraffe manor, etc.) and decided that WE wanted give back and provide unprecedented access to extraordinary stays.

So we created a franchise named “Night at X on Airbnb.” The idea is to create a global conversation with local stories through listings such as the Galeries Lafayette in Paris, a KLM plane in Amsterdam and even the Paris Catacombs.

In Europe, in particular, Airbnb has low scores compared to our competitors (vacation rentals/shared accommodation sites.) But once people are aware of our offering, we have strong conversation rates from awareness to usage to loyalty.

Our key objective: increase brand awareness and preference