ebay Insights: It's all about "winning"

Outside of what Apple has done in the prior 2 years in marketing and advertising, the new ebay campaign, "Shop Victoriously," is one of the best marketing efforts I've seen from the tech world.

Previously, ebay ran the "it" campaign, which emphasized that ebay essentially sells whatever you want to buy. I wasn't a huge fan of that campaign (because I already got "it"), though I think that it may have helped educate a greater mass of consumers as to what ebay can offer.

(I couldn't find an existing "it" commercial online, so I supplied this user generated parody instead)



"Shop Victoriously," on the other hand, is a much smarter campaign, and instead of telling consumers that ebay is a huge marketplace, it's taking us a little deeper into consumer psychology. People view auctions as win/lose battles! "Shop Victoriously" is essentially exploiting the fun and excitement people get out of participating in auctions. Let me also note, however, that ebay is also exploiting what psychologists know as commitment bias, which, like my earlier post on cognitive biases, is a serious flaw in human cognition. That said, I still think it's an effective ad, cleverly illustrating the competition dynamic of online auctions.