Airbnb 'Cuba'
President Obama made a historic trip to Cuba in march of 2016 as the first sitting US president to visit the Communist ruled island since Calvin Coolidge did in 1928. Airbnb had the pleasure of joining him on his visit and wanted to commemorate the visit with a series of animated gifs to help mark this historic event.
Our friends on the social media team at TBWA/Chiat LA hit us up to see what we could bring. The loose idea was that, in a charmingly illustrated but surprising way, we show the world that Cuba's doors are wide open. This applied to business, culture, and even sports.
To our team, it was a two pronged problem to solve. First, we needed to create an Airbnb branded look that was graphic enough to read on social, but still charming. The second problem was that each story needed to surprise the viewer from what was, to what Cuba is now. Given that it was social based, we also had to figure out how to make it loop but still be engaging.
Our solution was a very playful and easily read set of gifs representing cuba but that suggested one story and flipped it in reverse for the real payoff. Businesses going from open to closed. A brick layer building what we think is a dividing wall but is actually a bridge. An underlying theme of unity really emerged and visually what we ran with.
Design & Animation: Laundry
Agency: TBWA/Chiat Los Angeles
