Community service: Airbnb rebranding injects sense of belonging

Collaborating with London-based creative agency DesignStudio, Airbnb has created a new logo, visual identity and website. The purpose of the process is to replace the company’s chief association of facilitating cheap travel with a way to connect meaningfully with the community around you and achieve a sense of belonging, wherever you may be.

At the heart of the rebranding is the Bélo logo, an amalgamation of three shapes that embody the new pillars of the brand: people, places and love. The logo was specifically designed so that anyone can draw it and it can be customised using the online tool Create Airbnb. By allowing the logo to be adapted and modified, the company hopes users will feel more personally connected to the brand and to other users.

The simplistic advertising campaign suggests that Airbnb has a more substantial mission, and attempts to inject soul into the globally adopted site. One billboard advert reads: ‘We imagine a world where you can belong anywhere.’

Airbnb’s brand identify transformation is an interesting moment in the development of the sharing economy.

In our forthcoming Autumn/Winter Trend Briefing we will examine how the sharing economy is changing perceptions of value. For more information, visit our Eventbrite page.