Nice work if you can get it. Airbnb, which suffered early in the pandemic laying off 2000 people after it lost $1bn in bookings, has floated on US tech market Nasdaq at more than double the asking price, valuing the business at close to $100bn.
And Droga5, now owned by Accenture, has picked up the ad account, reportedly without a pitch. Last year airbnb spent about $36m on advertising but that’s bound to increase in line with other tech giants.
Somehow this almost feels expected. Accenture/D5 looks the obvious choice for a business like airbnb – which, although it’s just made its founders (who began renting mattresses in San Francisco) and many of its staff astonishingly rich – is never without its issues.
D5 is good at navigating those and Accenture was bound to have its hooks in the company somewhere. But it’s a landmark win in what’s been a pretty good year for Droga5.
