Where did it all go wrong for ?

In 2006 BBDO NY created ‘it’, an elegant, integrated campaign that went on to win a nomination from D&AD.

From hero to zero

The following September, eBay launched another integrated campaign called Shop Victoriously! It has received wide-spread criticisms from the public. Gary Briggs the VP of eBay’s Consumer Marketing, who was awarded ‘marketer of the year’ for the critically acclaimed ‘it’, was replaced during the Shop Victoriously! Campaign…

Kevin McSpadden eBay’s senior director of brand marketing maintains their new

strategy is a winner.

He explained that they were trying to uphold the brand’s offbeat and fun-loving personality through the campaign and that they were trying to put an adrenaline drip into their brand, to make sure it doesn’t lose its verve, vitality and youthfulness. He explained that in Shop Victoriously! eBay is basically taking the piss out of themselves and trying entertain, whilst expressing people’s joy and love of winning. (Creativity, October 2007)

Why doesn’t Shop Victoriously work as an integrated campaign and how could it have

been improved?• It’s hard to navigate. It’s not clear to the user where he is on the

website; the website should be viewed as a spatial concept with contents to be used, rather than a page with contents to view.

• The Winners Guide shows TV spots about how to be a winner, and invites people to upload videos to the microsite. The concept is weak because they are supposed to be funny, but aren’t and it feels patronising to be lectured by two middle-aged, unattractive men, on the art of winning. Also, the “watch a video, send a video” format feels dated. Strong writing could have saved it, but it was poorly written.

• The comedians could have done funny/kooky ambient stunts about winning in cities (without mentioning eBay); a quirky viral, with cult-like-status, based on the ambient stunts, could have inspired consumers to make and upload their own copy-cat videos to sites such as Youtube, which would have inspired people to write about them in blogs and forums.

• The TV Spots for Trophy Case were losely related to Shopping Victoriously. To encourage a sense of ownership, interactivity and participation, they could have used the internet to create a bespoke multiplayer online game/video where players could have control over a world, compete against each other and experience the euphoria of how it feels to Shop Victoriously! online. Blogs related to the on-line game could have got people to share and exchange hints and experiences of the game.

• Spotlight on, is a chance to make a bid for charities by buying celebrity endorsed items-which contradicts the notion of shopping victoriously.

• The instant game and sweepstakes smacks of being like a lottery/scratch-card incentive you’d find in a newspaper.

• Trophy Case also features videos of people’s embarrassing re-gifting stories and stories about how eBay purchases made their lives better- which is unrelated to shopping victoriously.

Does it work as an integrated campaign?

On the whole Shop Victoriously doesn’t work as an integrated campaign, both in terms of its strategy and execution. SV had more than 3 strategies, and the website was an awkward combination of numerous ideas, which made the website hard to understand or navigate. “Just slinging stuff across platforms is not integration”- Mark Chippendale, News Group Media. “Integration needs to go beyond multi-platforms, the idea has to be bespoke. The solution may call for multiple platforms, but it may also require just one. Integrated ideas are about being selective- a scattergun approach won’t work.” –Jonathan Kenny, Simon Baker- Business Week (Campaign, December 2007).

Interactive marketing can influence us by making brand currency, i.e. making the brand part of out daily conversations. A great way of creating brand currency, is through creating tools which are useful. - James Clifton, Agency.com (Campaign, June 2007). If eBay had wanted to create brand currency they could have helped people Shop Victoriously. They could have helped stressed-out weekend shoppers in the high street through laser tagging where the best bargains/products are, or by creating a useful widget to locate sought-after products (perhaps a smash-up of Google Map and www.kelkoo.co.uk) for your iPhone.

Brand Currency

Why was this campaign such a poor follow-on for ‘it’?

Perhaps the reason Shop Victoriously wasn’t a great success was because “most groups don’t have the basics necessary for integration. There are not many media-neutral planners that know how to tackle these challenges.” Tim Lindsay, TBWA UK. (Campaign, June 2007) Also, “to produce the best results demands a collaborative approach and a multidisciplinary team made up of highly skilled individuals each with an equal voice. You need a mindset hungry for change, to embrace a process that is so collaborative.”- Rob Forshaw, Matt Nicholls, Grand Union (Campaign, June 2007). Briggs firing indicates there was not an adequate level of collaboration between eBay/BBDO NY.

What could BBDO NY have done instead?• They could have encouraged people to shop victoriously by

releasing virals featuring people trying to break into acrylic/indestructible boxes; these boxes would have been in unusual places (e.g.in dark forests) with unnusual/highly sort-after objects in them. The virals could show people winning the prizes e.g. Lamborghinis, by winning eCoins, through kooky games/tasks.

• eBay could have then left real acrylic boxes around towns, with cool prizes in them. People can only win these prizes through bidding with eCoins- which they can win online, (hidden in secondlife, and other websites) which are then sent to their mobiles.

• Mysterious TV spots showing the empty acrylic boxes with a number to text for info/hints could have created awareness and interest in the campaign, similar to successful work, with a similar concept done by Ask.com, Volvo/Pirates of the Caribbean and Eurostar/The Da Vinci Code.

• People could text ‘eBAY/3229’ to receive texts with hints, on where they can find eCoins, and receive hints on where to find eCoins via bluetooth from posters around town’s pubs and clubs.

• The acrylic boxes also feature in mysterious posters ( like the ones from the integrated campaign for Ask.com) and the acrylic boxes/eCoins are also feature in Eastenders/Hollyoaks/Big Brother, where you can see the actors enjoy the anticipation & euphoria of winning.

• The eCoins are stored texted to/stored in phone, and when you think you have enough eCoins, you bid, through bluetooth at the acrylic box, for the object you want. The bids are stored and the winners are revealed online. You can check if you have won, through a password sent to your mobile, and see how far you were from shopping victoriously.

Viva la revolucion!

Whatever eBay chooses as it’s next direction, as the pioneer of a revolutionary bid-based on-line shopping

experience, their brand should reflect an innovative spirit, and embrace new technology, in a way that makes

consumers think about/behave in a new way. eBay needs to reflect it’s youthful, edgy personality by inviting /sharing interesting or useful technology that provokes discussion.eBay assumed they could control people like a shepherd

controls a flock of sheep- instead they should have maximised digital’s potential by being like honey to a

swarm of bees. The TM, who are media/technology savvy are already getting bored with Youtube, eBay and

amazon.com. The web changes at an incredible pace- Bay should set

trends and not follow them.

Thank you