eBay may be more associated with auctions but this new effort aims to change that. Focused on buy-now mobile shopping, eBay unveiled its new television campaign 9/14, dubbed, “When it’s on your mind, it’s on eBay.” The new ads, via Venables Bell & Partners, stress that users that you can use the “Buy It Now” function for many items, instead of waiting for an auction to end. It’s likely a competitive poke at Amazon.com in that respect. Young shoppers featured in the ads use eBay to buy the latest fashion and gadgets, and are shown searching and ordering items in seconds using a mobile device.
The campaign aims to prime the market for what will be eBay’s largest mobile shopping season ever.
“eBay’s target customers are shopping enthusiasts – people who are passionate about shopping, whenever and wherever the moment of inspiration strikes,” said Richelle Parham, chief marketing officer, eBay North America. “Shopping enthusiasts are heavy online users with a particular affinity for mobile shopping, and this campaign extends eBay’s powerful brand to reach them at the moment they want to shop.”
Citing ComScore data, eBay says 60% of fashion enthusiasts and 65% of electronics enthusiasts own smartphones, compared to less than 30% of the general public. It says its own research shows these shoppers “appreciate the excitement of the eBay marketplace and like to shop on eBay at the moment inspiration strikes.” So the campaign is aimed at those two types of consumers.
The campaign is fully integrated, blending TV, outdoor and social media. Outdoor display ads will be seen in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles starting 10/17.
eBay describes one ad: “While a young woman is shopping for jeans on her tablet, the woman’s Mom interjects to offer up a few pairs of her not-exactly-flattering, high-waisted mom jeans. Needless to say, the young woman declines and uses the eBay mobile app to buy three pairs of her own style of jeans.”
See it here:
Another ad features a shopper who uses his smartphone to purchase a tablet: “In a business meeting, a man finds himself being the only one in the room without a tablet computer. While his co-workers relentlessly rib him, he uses his phone’s eBay app to buy a tablet of his own.”
Six 30-second TV commercials kicked off 9/14 on national cable shows including Top Gear, SportsCenter, Tosh.0, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Top Chef and The Rachel Zoe Project. The spots highlight that no matter where shoppers are and what they want to buy, eBay has it in stock.
To illustrate the ease of use and instant gratification eBay provides through its mobile apps, street-level outdoor executions of the campaign will use custom Quick Response codes that can be accessed using eBay’s RedLaser mobile scanning technology. This will allow consumers to shop for products on the spot, whether in a train station or outside a pedestrian shopping area; the various QR codes will lead to custom eBay landing pages featuring great shopping finds for all shopping enthusiasts.
Online ads will consist of takeovers on YouTube and Yahoo! and banner placements on Mashable, eHow, The New York Times, SF Gate, InStyle and Pandora.
eBay also includes the “buy it new, buy it now” tag at the end of each spot.
