New HomeAway Campaign Highlights the Grossness of Shared Holidays

With the company’s new ‘It’s Your Holiday, Why Share It?’ integrated marketing campaign that launches today in the UK, US, France and Germany, HomeAway is challenging travellers to book a whole house where families and friends have space and privacy to enjoy their whole holiday. 

The holiday rentals’ new campaign builds upon its platform of “The whole house. The whole family. A whole holiday” and is intended to show the many reasons why upgrading to a holiday rental far outweighs staying in a hotel or paying to sleep under the same roof as a complete stranger. Nick Offerman, actor and comedian, has voiced the advert giving it a humorous tone. 

“Our new campaign demonstrates the problem of over-sharing, using humour to show how a whole house is an upgrade from status quo accommodations and sharing economy alternatives,” said Mariano Dima, Chief Marketing Officer at HomeAway. 

“Holidays are precious, so every moment should be about sharing the right things with the right people to ensure a more holistic, private and memorable holiday. We want to show travellers what ‘A Whole Holiday does and does not look like.”

The 30 second and 10 second spots will be shown on ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky from today for several weeks and the global integrated marketing campaign will reach consumers using a spectrum of media, including digital, social, including YouTube, and TV. 

“’Why Share It’ is HomeAway’s largest marketing effort to date, costing tens of millions of dollars,” added Dima. 

The creative will also be shown at the UEFA EURO 2016 as HomeAway is a national sponsor and the official fans accommodation service for the football championship taking place in ten cities across France from June 10 - July 10 2016. 

HomeAway developed the ad and its “over-sharing” campaign in partnership with Saatchi & Saatchi, London. ZenithOptimedia handled the media planning and buying.

The campaign highlights the plight of over-sharing, with the most egregious offense being shared holidays with strangers – from toenail clippings and dirty bars of soap to overrun pools and overcrowded buffets, the ads explore the reality of staying at a hotel or sharing a home with a stranger.

Steven Stamstad, Global Vice-President of Brand says: "Our new campaign demonstrates how a whole house solves the problem of an ‘over-shared’ holiday, using humour and contrasting true-to-life examples to help prompt travellers consider HomeAway for their next trip.”  “We believe the dedicated holiday homes listed on HomeAway offer a better way to stay, so it was important to articulate this holiday rental experience and make it clear to travellers that we do not list shared properties.”

Kate Stanners, Saatchi & Saatchi Chief Creative says: "This campaign questions something fundamental about behaviors: that it’s ok to share your precious holidays with people you’ve never met before. At a HomeAway holiday rental, you don’t have to do that, and we wanted to showcase that benefit in a light-hearted and humorous way."