Airbnb's marketing advantage: fearlessness
Geoffrey PrecourtWarc
The "sharing economy" is one of the blessings that digital enthusiasts cite as ecommerce takes on more communal aspects.
Uber and Airbnb score the highest marks as exemplary practitioners of this new business model. And each company has experienced image problems that exploded on social media – say, a drunken passenger assaulting an Uber driver and a tone-deaf series of billboards that Airbnb posted in San Francisco to celebrate its contributions to the city's tax base.
But such growing pains can become acute when business expansion comes at an...