Online auction giant eBay takes its brand on the road with an estimated $5 million mobile tour and sweepstakes, eBay’s biggest campaign to date.
Camp eBay kicks off May 30 at the Indy 500, then tours 30-to-40 markets throughout the summer to reach offline consumers who haven’t shopped on eBay. Tour partners are Baskin Robbins, Clear Channel Communications, Loews Corp. and Sony.
The tour vehicles are a school bus and a vacation cabin—both bought on eBay’s travel site. Visitors enter the cabin for a beginner-level tutorial on how to buy and sell on eBay; more advanced lessons are given in the school bus. The cabin features videos of eBay buyers telling their stories. Graphics show photos of purchasers with top-selling goodies for summer.
Both vehicles will visit state fairs, summer festivals such as Taste of Chicago, an eBay Live user’s conference in New Orleans and 20 concert venues via partnership with Clear Channel.
Tour vehicles and partners also will distribute 4.25 million decoder game pieces for an instant-win sweeps awarding five grand prizes of $10,000. Smaller prizes include Baskin Robbins ice cream for a year (250 winners) and coupons; $10 gift cards (7,500) and single-song coupons (500,000) for Sony’s new music download site, Sony Connect; and eBay gift certificates (20,000). Game cards will be handed out at tour stops and in 2,500 Baskin Robbins shops and 125 Loews theaters. Print ads and limited TV support.
Ad shop Swirl, San Francisco, is lead agency for Camp eBay. Ignition, New York City, handles the tour; Marden-Kane, Manhasset, NY, administers the sweeps.
“Because we’re not a traditional retailer and can’t control product, pricing or packaging, we’ve created a new model for promotion to leverage the one-to-one human level,” said director of consumer promotions Julie Haddon. “We’re reaching people directly and letting them enjoy our brand.”
Meanwhile, San Jose, CA-based eBay is running eBay Showhouse, an April-June effort that challenged eight interior designers to decorate one room of a Manhattan townhouse using only items bought on eBay. All items will be auctioned off again this summer to support Alpha Workshops, a design studio for artists with HIV.
EBay did its first Showhouse last year; the 2004 house will be open for tours June 12-17. Tickets are $25, to benefit Alpha Workshops.
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