Airbnb: How to Airbnb – Mexico

When Airbnb hit the market, their goal was to make you feel at home anywhere in the world you were. They weren’t just selling a place to stay – they were selling an experience that put you at the center of your destination’s culture.

But at first, not everyone was so comfortable with the idea of renting out a stranger’s home, so Airbnb made that pill a bit easier to swallow by putting out a brand video in 2012 that explained the concept to the world.

As they grew in popularity, Airbnb wished to expand their explainer video to new markets and a variety of different cultures. They turned to our Los Angeles-based video production company to execute a brand video for the Mexican market.

Our main goal was to make sure we were speaking the locals’ language, obviously literally but figuratively as well. We wanted to avoid coming across as fake or ignorant of Mexican culture.

We worked with the internal team at Airbnb to develop a script that was not generalized to the LatinX community, but used phrases and nuances that were Mexico-specific.

We also needed our spokesperson to be someone who would embody the same aura the original video’s talent had, but also capture the true nature of a born-and-bred Mexican.

Filming in Los Angeles allowed us to emulate the landscape and light that you would naturally find in Mexico, given its similar terrain.

A priority was to stay true to Mexico, but also to ourselves. We pride ourselves on our cinematography, so everything from camera movements, to transitions, to the script was intentional and well-thought out, so that the end result would make the audience feel as if they were living right there, in the spot.

In each and every cut, we wanted the viewer to feel inspired about their prospective vacations all throughout Mexico.

Airbnb used this spot to launch their product in Mexico, with media buys in 15-second and full-length 90-second versions.

Artex was responsible for the conceptualization, scripting, treatment, production, and post-production for this project.

The American Advertising Federation recognized our efforts by honoring us with an ADDY award in the categories of Online Commercial and the film craft field of Cinematography.