Airbnb x Duolingo
The best holidays don't rewrite you.
They translate you.
Role: Creative Concept · Integrated Campaign · Brand Partnership · Experience Strategy · Experiential Design · OOH Campaign · Environmental Design · Digital Product Thinking · Creative Direction · Art Direction · Copywriting · AI Creative Direction (Assisted by Giles)
Travel has never been easier.
Feeling like yourself somewhere new hasn't.
Created as a partnership between Airbnb and Duolingo, You, Translated. explores what happens when travel begins long before the airport.
Rather than teaching people a language for the sake of fluency, the campaign helps travellers carry the confidence they already have at home into every conversation abroad. It transforms familiar everyday routines into quiet reminders that another culture isn't somewhere else—it can begin finding you long before you leave.
Because perhaps the best souvenir you can bring home is the version of yourself you never had to leave behind.
Deliverables:
Integrated Campaign • Brand Partnership • Experiential Activation • Environmental Design • OOH Campaign • Station Takeovers • Retail Experience • Digital Product Journey • CRM • UX Journey • Motion Content
Pre-launch
Italy Finds Its Way to London
Rather than launching with advertising, the campaign begins with curiosity. Familiar routines across Waterloo quietly start changing. Newspapers become Italian, departure boards momentarily reveal another destination, digital screens show neighbours waving from Florence, and a familiar station busker unexpectedly begins singing in Italian. Individually they're easy to miss. Together they create the feeling that another culture is slowly finding its way into London.
Launch
The Place Where Travel Begins
Following two weeks of quiet interventions, the campaign unfolds around a fully realised Italian neighbourhood café at the heart of Waterloo. More than an installation, it becomes the campaign's emotional centre—where familiar routines are gently translated through coffee, conversation and local culture. Before travelling abroad, visitors are given the chance to experience what it truly feels like to belong somewhere new.
01 · The City Opens Its Doors
After two weeks of subtle discovery, Waterloo welcomes visitors into the experience itself. A series of beautifully restored Italian doorways transform the station barriers into symbolic gateways, inviting commuters to step beyond their routine. Every doorway represents another neighbourhood, another conversation and another opportunity to feel at home somewhere new.
02 · A Familiar Place, Somewhere New
At the heart of Waterloo, an authentic Italian neighbourhood café appears almost unnoticed, as though it has always belonged there. Warm lighting, weathered materials and naturally blended flooring soften the station around it, inviting people to slow down before they continue their journey.
03 · Life Happens Naturally
Throughout the day, small unscripted moments reinforce the illusion. A local arrives on his scooter, exchanges a few words in Italian with the owner, collects his coffee and disappears back into the city. Nothing asks for attention. Everything quietly suggests this café has always been part of Waterloo.
04 · The Experience Comes First
Branding remains intentionally understated throughout the space. Airbnb and Duolingo reveal themselves gradually, allowing visitors to discover the partnership only after they've already connected emotionally with the experience. The destination remains the hero; the brands simply make it possible.
05 · The Journey Continues
Every purchase ends with a receipt that extends the experience beyond the café. Guests unlock exclusive Airbnb offers alongside personalised Duolingo lessons linked to their destination, turning a simple coffee into the beginning of a much larger journey.
National Rollout: Every City, A Different Story
The campaign expands beyond London by translating familiar routines into destinations that naturally fit each city. Birmingham quietly becomes Tokyo. Manchester discovers Argentina. Every activation celebrates the personality of its host city while introducing another culture through familiar everyday moments.
Hero OOH: The Best Version of You Travels Too
The campaign culminates in a series of side-by-side portraits showing people at home and abroad. Nothing about them changes except the setting. The designer is still designing. The musician is still discovering music. The creative is still creating. They're not becoming someone new—they're simply living the same life in another language.
Media Strategy: Meeting Travellers Where Travel Begins
Initial placements focus on cities and transport hubs with the strongest cultural and travel links, from Waterloo and Birmingham to airport routes including the Elizabeth Line and Heathrow Express. As the campaign grows, creative adapts dynamically to different destinations, audiences and seasonal travel behaviours.
phase 2
Stories That Prove the Journey
Once people begin travelling, the campaign evolves using real experiences rather than imagined ones. Anonymous language milestones, everyday travel moments and genuine conversations become the creative itself, celebrating the confidence that comes from asking one more question, making one more connection and feeling a little more at home.
Beyond the Campaign Launch
The campaign doesn't end when the media stops. Podcast partnerships spark authentic conversations around travel, food and belonging, while carefully selected creators document the small moments that make somewhere unfamiliar feel like home. As travellers begin sharing their own experiences through #YouTranslated, the campaign naturally evolves from a brand message into a community-led movement.
