eBay, TV advertising 2.0

In France eBay is about to launch its first advertising campaign on TV. The message they want to deliver it’s “eBay c’est vous” (eBay it’s you) and, together with the agency BETC EuroRSCG, they’ve come up with a very smart and exteremely consistent idea: eBay sellers can buy space within the spot to advertise the products they usually sell through the auction platform.

The initiative offers advertising space for product belonging to ten categories (female fashion, music instruments, cars etc…). The principle to assign the spaces it’s the same that rules on eBay: sellers participate in a dedicated auction and bid to win. All the money collected through the auctions will be donated by eBay to a charity organization called Planete Urgence.

I think the idea it’s brilliant, because it’s original, it’s very Web 2.0 (and we all love being 2.0 now , in a way it integrates Tv and Web, it has a great PR/buzz power, but most of all it’s extremely consistent with the eBay brand and business, which is probably the most difficult thing to achieve when you create an advertising campaign (even if this shall always be mandatory according to the brief…).
Read more on Le Journal du Net (in French).