How Airbnb engineered a breakthrough campaign that perfectly aligns its offering with customers’ jobs, pains, and gains.

Communicating via the Value Proposition

Great products solve meaningful problems for one—or several—groups of people. When we analyze a company’s value proposition, we should see exactly how its products and services address the pains, gains, and jobs-to-be-done of each user segment.

If the reason people choose our offering is the problem we solve or the goal we help them achieve, then it seems obvious our communications strategy should center on that point. Yet in most cases, it doesn’t. In fact, many companies don’t even have a clear value proposition or know why customers pick (or ignore) them over competitors.

Ultimately, our communications should ensure our target audience:

• Strongly identifies with the problem or goal
  

• Recognizes that our product or service can help
  

• Understands how it provides that help
  

The Airbnb case study

Airbnb disrupted the accommodation market not only through its business model but also by how it communicates its value proposition. Its advertising is built on a fundamental premise: deeply understanding users’ pain points and putting them front and center.

What Airbnb has learned over the years is that offering a single value proposition to a mass market is inefficient and wastes millions in marketing and growth.

In 2024, it launched a new campaign that completely redesigned its messaging, showcasing—more vividly than ever—how the product solves customers’ problems, while acknowledging that not all users share the same needs and motivations.

Airbnb identified eight distinct user segments and created individual commercials for each. Every spot clearly highlights:

From that point on, they created separate ad spots for each segment, making it very clear:

• Pains of the specific segment in a defined context
  

• Pain relievers that illustrate the perceived value of choosing a better service
  

• Jobs to be done that set the scene and trigger the commercial (e.g., finding a place to stay for a vacation with friends)
  

• Gain creators—the extra benefits users experience by booking through Airbnb
  

• Relevant services they can select
  

A Close-Up Look at the Value Proposition

Instead of talking prices or property counts, Airbnb structures its messages around real stories that resonate with these pain points.Let’s zoom in on the segment of travelers who want to connect with nature.

The key is to match our product or service to the segment’s pains, gains, and jobs. Having this map fleshed out—and validated—is the most powerful marketing tool a team can wield, because users compare options that solve their problems and add value.

The key is to match our product or service to the segment’s pains, gains, and jobs. Having this map fleshed out—and validated—is the most powerful marketing tool a team can wield, because users compare options that solve their problems and add value.

Watching the commercial, you can quickly spot how Airbnb solves users’ problems through its platform and illustrates that visually. For example:

• Pain: Ending up in an urban hotel, far from nature
  

• Pain reliever: An exclusive stay inside a natural reserve
  

The Emotional Factor

Every user is a person, and people are driven by emotions. Even when we believe we’re rational, our subconscious is hard at work when making decisions.

These commercials not only outline the value proposition; they also surface the emotional jobs, such as:

• Feeling adventurous, free, and well
  

• Relaxing and disconnecting from day-to-day routines
  

• Detoxing from technology and urban overstimulation
  

By doing so, the targeted segments empathize not only with the problem being solved but also with what matters most to them—what strikes an emotional chord. This has a tremendous impact on decision-making.

Other Key Takeaways

Core Elements of the Strategy

• Emotional storytelling: Real stories from guests and hosts
  

• Immersive visuals: Spaces portrayed as living experiences, not hotel catalogs
  

• Consistent messaging: Focus on the experience, not the transaction
  

• User-generated content: Authenticity through real stories
  

Results of This Approach

By connecting directly with users’ pains and emotional desires, Airbnb achieves:

• Higher engagement in advertising campaigns
  

• Stronger emotional bonds with the brand
  

• Clear differentiation from traditional competitors
  

• Transformation of users into brand evangelists