Director of Communications for Airbnb Chris Lukezic will be speaking at the upcoming
ContagiousNow / Next / Why Session in London on 18th April.
Chris will talk about
New Currencies by looking at the peer-to-peer economy model as an example
for a new definition of sustainability, and assessing why brands should be thinking about this as a
multi-faceted framework to operate within.
He's shared his thoughts with Contagious, ahead of the event.
Brands can no longer exist to serve only themselves, as consumers now demand that they exist as an
active member of the community to which they sell their products and services. Their access to
information and the transparency in which companies are expected to conduct themselves means
that marketing is no longer a one-way street. Today, the role of marketing stretches across the
entire organization; from customer service to product development.
At
Airbnb we rarely use the word brand, instead we consider what we are doing to be community
building. Airbnb and the rise of the collaborative consumption movement have taught me that
businesses can no longer exist to serve themselves. Brands must be stewards of sustainability, helping to prolong and enhance the communities in which they operate, whether they are a multi-
national corporation or a locally owned small business.
My experience over the past 4 years of helping to build and grow the
Airbnb community forced me
many times to articulate what it was about the business that made it worth spending my life doing.
The decision to diminish the importance of our own brand and substitute it with the mission of
building a sustainable community meant putting the company in a situation with tremendous
responsibility. In the future I think this will be the case for all businesses, as sustainability won't be a selling point, it will be a necessity.
To hear more from Chris, join Contagious at their upcoming
Now / Next / Why Session on 18th April.
For more information on New Currencies and the other trends they will be focusing on, simply
click here.
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