eBay targets the “on-demand shopper” ahead of largest mobile shopping season
SAN JOSE, Calif. – eBay, the world’s largest online marketplace and a leader in mobile commerce, unveiled “When it’s on your mind, it’s on eBay.” This advertising campaign speaks to today’s “on-demand shopper,” who prefers to shop anywhere, anytime with a mobile device. The campaign aims to prime the market for what will be eBay’s largest mobile shopping season ever as the company continues to innovate and enable consumers to shop how they want, when they want.
“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.”
Created by independent San Francisco ad agency Venables Bell & Partners, the work targets shopping enthusiasts in categories such as fashion, motors and electronics where eBay delivers personalized, custom experiences to help shoppers discover the top brands, retailers and products they want, at prices they want. Shopping enthusiasts use mobile devices to shop more than any other category of shopper. Sixty percent of fashion enthusiasts and 65 percent of electronics enthusiasts own smartphones, compared to less than 30 percent of the general public.1 eBay research has shown that these shoppers appreciate the excitement of the eBay marketplace and like to shop on eBay at the moment inspiration strikes.
“When the company that revolutionized how people shop asks you to do something big and new, you get excited,” said Paul Venables, founder and executive creative director at Venables Bell & Partners. “For this campaign, we tapped into the psyche of passionate shoppers and then demonstrated why eBay is the answer.”
Using the simple call to action, “But it new. Buy it now,” the campaign reinforces the shopping experience on eBay today. Sixty-two percent of the more than 200 million live listings at any given time are fixed price and 70 percent are new products. Mobile sales on eBay are expected to exceed $4 billion by the end of 2011, and eBay’s suite of mobile applications have been downloaded nearly 50 million times, with one purchase made every second through mobile, showing a strong demand for shopping on the go. In fact, a pair of shoes is sold on eBay every nine seconds and 2,000 cars are sold every week on eBay’s core iPhone apps.
With every piece of creative enforcing the line, “When it’s on your mind, it’s on eBay,” the campaign specifically positions eBay as the go to destination for shopping enthusiasts. Six 30-second TV commercials will kick off tonight on national cable network 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 ad campaign will use custom Quick Response (QR) 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.
The campaign is fully integrated, blending new and traditional channels including TV, outdoor display and social media. Outdoor displays ads will be seen in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles starting October 17.
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.
To view samples of the creative elements of the campaign, please visit www.ebayinc.com/campaign.
About eBay Inc.
Founded in 1995 in San Jose, Calif., eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) is about connecting buyers and sellers. We do so through eBay, the world’s largest online marketplace, which allows users to buy and sell on eBay platforms in nearly every country on earth; through PayPal, which enables individuals and businesses to securely, easily and quickly send and receive online payments; and through GSI Commerce, which facilitates ecommerce, multichannel retailing and digital marketing for global enterprises. We also reach millions through specialized marketplaces such as StubHub, the world’s largest ticket marketplace, and eBay classifieds sites, which together have a presence in more than 1,000 cities around the world. For more information about the company and its global portfolio of online brands, visit www.ebayinc.com.
