Title	NOTFAIRBNB
Brand	SOLIDARITÉ GRANDS FROIDS’ (‘BIG COLD SOLIDARITY’)
Product/Service	FOR THE HOMELESS PEOPLE
Category	D01. Use of Digital Platforms
Entrant	TBWA\BELGIUM Brussels, BELGIUM
Idea Creation	TBWA\BELGIUM Brussels, BELGIUM
Media Placement	TBWA\BELGIUM Brussels, BELGIUM
PR	TBWA\BELGIUM Brussels, BELGIUM
Production	TBWA\BELGIUM Brussels, BELGIUM

Name	Company	Position
Thomas Driesen	TBWA	Copywriter
David Maertens	TBWA	Art Director
Ann, Vanminsel, Sara Pierrequin, Eric Debaene	TBWA	Copywriter
Valérie Demeure	TBWA	Account Director
Aline Vanliefland	TBWA	Online producer
Joachim Deman	TBWA	Public Relations
Jana Keppens	TBWA	Designer
Axel Nédée	TBWA	Studio Artist
Wim Van Loon, Dietlev Maertens, Gunther Sijmens	TBWA	Digital developpers

The Campaign

Notfairbnb is an exact copy of the real Airbnb website, but instead of luxury lofts and dream houses, it featured real places in Brussels where the homeless are forced to sleep. By symbolicaly ‘booking’ one of the homeless places visitors automatically donate to homeless organization Solidarité Grands Froids. The website launched on December 21st, the first official day of winter, and attracted immense media interest. Both in Belgium and around the world. And just when the idea couldn’t get any bigger, we received requests from international homeless organisations to launch Notfairbnb in their own countries. So we decided to open up our platform. At this moment Notfairbnb is operating in three different continents and more countries will be launching soon.

Campaign Success

Notfairbnb is an exact copy of the real Airbnb website. People can search for accomodation types as public building, portal or sidewalk. Each accommodation included cynical descriptions of the harsh conditions the dispossessed endure. By symbolicaly ‘booking’ one of the homeless places visitors automatically donate to Solidarité Grands Froids. The website launched on December 21st, the first official day of winter. We created additional digital buzz by offering our accomodations to famous people, like musicians after a gig in Brussels or world leaders during the European council. Targeted Facebook ads promoted our platform to tourists visiting the city.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

Great results for a small organisation in a small country: Ð Zero media budget! Ð 18 952 unique visitors in just 10 days Ð Worldwide media coverage: Picked up by national press, radio and tv Ð Website visitors from 12 different countries all over the world Ð Donations from as far as away as New Zealand Ð Requests from international homeless organisations to launch Notfairbnb in their own countries Ð We decided to open up our platform to other homeless organisations around the world. Notfairbnb will be soon operating in three different continents and 5 more countries such as Canada, Germany, … who will join later this year and more will follow… Ð And for Belgium, we raised 500 % more money than previous years

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

Notfairbnb. Or how an unknown local homeless organisation became talk of the town and the world. An idea that wasn’t only discussed, but also lead to action. By parodying the popular Airbnb website, we created a platform where people can discover the harsh reality of the homeless and immediately donate. This resulted in 500% more donations than the year before

Although the main focus and starting point of the campaign is the homeless issue in Brussels, homelesness is a global problem. By parodying the popular platform Airbnb and by making use of free media (press / Twitter posts / Facebookposts), this small, local initiative received worldwide coverage. By opening up the platform to other homeless organisations Notfairbnb is now becoming a global charitiy campaign for homeless people all around the world.