Airbnb

Coming out of the pandemic, with unease about contact with strangers still lingering, Airbnb faced a tricky brief for its first global multi-channel campaign: show what makes a stay special — the care and intentionality of a host — without showing hosts themselves. The creative approach came partially from a production solution we had developed at the height of the pandemic. Unable to send crews on location, we briefed photographers to document their own real trips in real Airbnbs. What came back was something we could never manufacture on set: genuine candor and real spontaneity.

This rich raw material was tailor-made for nostalgic still-photography slideshows, and pairing them with clever soundtracks turned up the emotional resonance, making the spots feel less like ads and more like memories. Concluding each spot with "Made Possible by Hosts" anchored everything in Airbnb's core brand message, subtly casting hosts as a benevolent but behind-the-scenes presence.

In my role on a large creative team, I developed and iterated on our photography brief, collaborated with photographers through the storytelling process, led casting for homes, hosts, and guests, and edited shoots and sequences through to post production. Below are a handful of the shoots I directed.