It looks like the threat of legal action has seen Airbnb's Birdhouse promotion fly away - the $2 million campaign appears to have been swiftly discarded.
Just a few days after HomeAway issued court proceedings against its rental rival, all promotional materials including a YouTube video have now disappeared.
Last Friday (27th), HomeAway CEO Brian Sharples said he hoped Airbnb would concede "bad judgement" with the campaign and take "swift and necessary actions" to discontinue it.
The campaign was launched just a week before Christmas and seen as part of the California-based startup's first foray into mainstream marketing, including cinema and print ads.
Unfortunately for CEO Brian Chesky and crew, HomeAway took exception to the similarity between Airbnb's use of a birdhouse in the promotion (an icon which has been at the heart of the vacation rental giant's proposition for eight years) and reacted through the courts.
Sharples said it is "difficult to understand how this campaign would not cause confusion in the marketplace, given HomeAway’s historical user of the birdhouse as our corporate logo and mark."
Although last week Airbnb said the campaign was "designed to convey the creative and individual hospitality that Airbnb and its hosts celebrate every day", perhaps both the legal eagles and bean counters at the company worrying about a potential court case have simply told marketing execs to axe the promotion quickly to diffuse the situation.
Nevertheless, such a swift face-saving move will likely see a string of questions asked as to how the expensive campaign ever got to see the light of day in the first place.
The campaign was the debut work of Airbnb’s agency of record, Pereira & O’Dell.
When asked about the latest development and if the campaign has been completely axed, an Airbnb official sent a five-word statement:
"This matter has been settled."
HomeAway saved itself a fifth word, emailing with:
"The lawsuit is settled."