Stayzilla encourages people to make room for something new

The digital campaign, which went live on September 11, brings alive the concept of alternate stays in the country

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | September 14, 2015

Click on the image to watch the TVC.

Stayzilla, the hybrid managed marketplace for Stays in India, has unveiled a new brand campaign, 'Make Room for Something New', along with the launch of its mobile app. The campaign brings alive the concept of alternate stays in the country.

The campaign, which went live on September 11, 2015 across digital media channels, emphasises on the company's focus on widening the quality of stay choices for travellers in India who are looking at unique and differentiated stay experiences.

Yogendra Vasupal

Yogendra Vasupal, Founder & CEO, Stayzilla, elaborated, “Today, India's stay market is large and fragmented with shortage of close to 1 million rooms in the country, creating a huge opportunity for expansion and growth. Keeping this in mind, we have decided to strengthen our play in the alternate stay segment. With the launch of our new communication, we aim to encourage hosts to open up their vacant rooms with Stayzilla. Hosting is not new to Indians and as a country we have been practicing it since eons, going by the 3,000-year old philosophy 'Yaadhamoore Yaavarum Kaelir' (Any town is home, anyone is kin), one should feel at home in any city, town and zilla. Thus, our revised brand philosophy is reflective of our company's vision – provide a number of quality stay options to the new breed of travellers who are looking at stay options customised to their interests and preferences.”

The campaign has been kicked off with a short film that has been produced and created in-house by Stayzilla and directed by National Award winning director Thiagarajan Kumaraja. Kumaraja has used stop motion technique to bring alive the various paper characters. The video will be aired in three languages – English, Hindi and Tamil.

Commenting on the creative process, Gopinath Prasanna, Creative Head, Stayzilla, said, “We have used stop motion (paper motion) for the video as it was best suited for the purpose of showcasing the transition from an old world tradition towards a new concept. The vision which led us to creating such a great piece was about showcasing the essence of sharing experiences. We have tried to maintain the Indian factor in the video for our consumers to be able to relate to the idea of the company and its services. It is a great achievement for us to have completed the video in just 75 days with a nine-member team, while usually creating a video with such great detailing takes about six months and at least 50 team members.”

“The brief given to me was to keep it simple. This is a new concept and the way we can take it to markets should not be transactional. I took about 2-3 weeks to write the script,” said Kumaraja.

The new campaign is targeted specifically at hosts and aims to revive the culture of hosting guests at homes through the new mobile app, which will cater to homeowners and travellers alike. The app, which will enable hosts to open up their vacant rooms faster, has selective filters to help them choose the kind of travellers they would like to host. It will allow users to look for stays that match their own requirements such as food preferences, travel type and much more. A special 'Build your tribe' feature on the app will also enable one to host and befriend travellers basis their passion – be it a specific interest, their institution or even to explore something new, thus giving people yet another reason to travel.

Vasupal added here, “Through our new campaign, 'Make Room for Something New', we want to tell people that to experience something new they do not have to step outside. They can just open their doors and let the world in. Even for travellers this opens up a number of stay options, right from providing frequent business travellers a home away from home to probably the alumni of an institution, who would like to stay with fellow alumni while travelling.”

Stayzilla is looking to create half a million rooms in the market in the next few years. While the landlords and the paying guests will decide on their terms of agreement, Stayzilla will charge 15 per cent commission for their services. The same revenue model will be adopted for the mobile app as well.

Commenting on the initial success of their home stay business, Vasupal said, “Stayzilla has managed to open up 1,800 first hosts and opened up 7,500 vacant rooms in the last two months. 25 per cent of the hosts are retired couples above 65 years of age. 30 per cent of the alternate stays that we've opened up have been in somebody's first home. 10 per cent has been in annex, and remaining 60 per cent are in vocational homes and second homes.”

Stayzilla will be spending close Rs 1 million a month on marketing activities. Commenting on the other marketing strategies, Vasupal said, “On the digital front, we are looking at interest-based targeting. For example, if you search for Jagjit Singh on Google, you should find our ad that would say 'meet another Jagjit Singh fan'. This would help connect both the hosts and the guests. As for print, we have covered the top dailies across major metros in the country. On radio, we have tied with up All India Radio. We've done outdoor in spurts and we'll also be advertising in cinema theatres.”

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