The brief states that eBay wants a viral that “communicates how eBay delivers shopping worth talking about.” I though that this was interesting, and then begun to look at the definition of a viral. Below is a snippet taken from wikipedia.
“Viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes. It can be word-of-mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet. Viral promotions may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games, e-books, brandable software, images, or even text messages.”(1)
I began to look into viral campaigns that obviously represented companies in a direct attempt to increase sales. Below is a small selection that has been gathered.
Heineken - Walk in Fridge
This viral is aimed at men aged between 18-35. It depicts the female characters being ecstatic with the walk-in wardrobe. However simultaneously the men in the other room are also acting in exactly the same way to the walk-in fridge, which has an unlimited supply of beer.
What I think is very successful about this particular marketing campaign is how it takes an original concept and then flips it on its head. It leads the viewer to think one way then pulls out the rug beneath their feet.
Dove Evolution Ad
This viral is aimed at females aged between 16+. This video shows how a very average looking woman is photographed, and with the introduction of digital effects, and lighting tricks she is made to look stunning. This viral is very popular due to the fact that it has the shock factor.
Women are always trying to buy the latest in skin and hair beauty products in order to achieve “perfection” and by perfection, I mean the flawless models seen in magazines, films billboards etc. This clip demonstrates that the models portrayed are never as perfect as they seem.
Gorilla Ad for Cadbury Dairy Milk
has the slogan “a glass and a half production” with the Cadburys logo. The gorilla, nor the music of Phil Collins have anything to do with the concept of Cadburys, however it gives people something to talk about.
This advert plays on the different side of creating a viral video. The concept could be completely different-or in direct contrast with whatever I wanted to promote, simply to get people spreading it around and talking about it.
I have found this research into viral video very interesting. The techniques that have been used by the various companies have broad and raging from funny, to the shock factor to the simply strange. I will continue to further my research not simply looking into viral videos but other forms of art and media that will give me inspiration.
Sources used within this post
(1)- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_marketing
Thursday, 15 January 2009
eBay adverts-marketing campaign
eBay has had a wide range of adverts promoting its brand. Below is a small selection of adverts that have been created by this company
Target audience: males aged between 15-35
This advert plays on the word “box” it’s taken the humorous perspective with the use of the play on word. While the character is looking for their selected product a wide range of similar “named” products is displayed- thus displaying eBay’s extensive range.
Target audience: females aged 20+
This advert is quite interesting, it plays on the idea of a woman, who doesn’t realize how valuable, or how much of a demand there is for her products she deems useless. This sends a message to other women who hadn’t even though about selling their “worthless” products on eBay.
Target audience: males aged 20+
This advert is aimed at the male audience. Once again it plays on the concept that products that were once thought to be worthless are actually quite valuable to the right buyer- even the ladder!
Overall the adverts are very interesting. What I have noticed however is that the overall style is very simplistic, and funny. This is the perception that eBay wants to move away from. It wants to retain its whole fun loving attitude- whilst gaining some new attributes such as; smart, friendly, inspiring, trustworthy, and fun.
The next stage of the design process is to look at other successful viral marketing campaigns and see how I cam emulate the success, and see if there is a formula for a successful viral marketing video.
Target audience: males aged between 15-35
This advert plays on the word “box” it’s taken the humorous perspective with the use of the play on word. While the character is looking for their selected product a wide range of similar “named” products is displayed- thus displaying eBay’s extensive range.
Target audience: females aged 20+
This advert is quite interesting, it plays on the idea of a woman, who doesn’t realize how valuable, or how much of a demand there is for her products she deems useless. This sends a message to other women who hadn’t even though about selling their “worthless” products on eBay.
Target audience: males aged 20+
This advert is aimed at the male audience. Once again it plays on the concept that products that were once thought to be worthless are actually quite valuable to the right buyer- even the ladder!
Overall the adverts are very interesting. What I have noticed however is that the overall style is very simplistic, and funny. This is the perception that eBay wants to move away from. It wants to retain its whole fun loving attitude- whilst gaining some new attributes such as; smart, friendly, inspiring, trustworthy, and fun.
The next stage of the design process is to look at other successful viral marketing campaigns and see how I cam emulate the success, and see if there is a formula for a successful viral marketing video.
Origins and early history of eBay
eBay is an American Internet company that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell goods and services worldwide.
Origins and early history of eBay
The online auction website was founded as "AuctionWeb in San Jose, California, on September 3, 1995, by French-born Iranian computer programmer Pierre Omidyar as part of a larger personal site. In 1997, the company received approximately $5 million in funding from the venture capital firm Benchmark Capital. (1)
The very first item sold on eBay was a broken laser pointer for $14.83. Astonished, Omidyar contacted the winning bidder to ask if he understood that the laser pointer was broken. In his responding email, the buyer explained: "I'm a collector of broken laser pointers." eBay went public on September 21, 1998, and both Omidyar and Skoll became instant billionaires. The company purchased PayPal on October 14, 2002. (2)
Competitors of eBay
Amazon.com
Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com, Inc. in 1994, it was launched in 1995. Located in Seattle, Washington, Amazon was one of the first major companies to sell goods over the Internet. They quickly shifted into other consumer products and expanded outside of the US. (3)
Google
Google Product Search helps shoppers find and buy products across the web. It works best employing sellers currently established ecommerce sites and then utilizing Google Product Search as a information organizer and checkout tool. Currently this is not an Ebay killer as it displays Ebay results in their search results, however they may choose to further their vertical depth in the future. (4)
Yahoo
You can use Yahoo! Shopping Web Services to search a database of millions of products and thousands of merchants. Yahoo! Shopping operates in a similar way to Google Product Search in that it utilizes a horizontal search structure across pre-established ecommerce websites. (5)
It’s been informative looking at the other sites that are in direct competition with eBay, each of the different sites all have their own individual strengths and weaknesses. Competitors such as Google and Yahoo are not necessarily direct competition to eBay due to the fact they simply list the items relevant to the search- however competitors sites will be listed in their searches.
The next stage is to look at the eBay marketing campaigns and to see how they have marketed themselves previously.
Sources used within this Blog
(1), (2) www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebay
(3), (4), (5) http://www.lightecho.com/index.php/internet-technology/top-10-auction-sites-possible-ebay-killers
Origins and early history of eBay
The online auction website was founded as "AuctionWeb in San Jose, California, on September 3, 1995, by French-born Iranian computer programmer Pierre Omidyar as part of a larger personal site. In 1997, the company received approximately $5 million in funding from the venture capital firm Benchmark Capital. (1)
The very first item sold on eBay was a broken laser pointer for $14.83. Astonished, Omidyar contacted the winning bidder to ask if he understood that the laser pointer was broken. In his responding email, the buyer explained: "I'm a collector of broken laser pointers." eBay went public on September 21, 1998, and both Omidyar and Skoll became instant billionaires. The company purchased PayPal on October 14, 2002. (2)
Competitors of eBay
Amazon.comJeff Bezos founded Amazon.com, Inc. in 1994, it was launched in 1995. Located in Seattle, Washington, Amazon was one of the first major companies to sell goods over the Internet. They quickly shifted into other consumer products and expanded outside of the US. (3)
GoogleGoogle Product Search helps shoppers find and buy products across the web. It works best employing sellers currently established ecommerce sites and then utilizing Google Product Search as a information organizer and checkout tool. Currently this is not an Ebay killer as it displays Ebay results in their search results, however they may choose to further their vertical depth in the future. (4)
Yahoo
You can use Yahoo! Shopping Web Services to search a database of millions of products and thousands of merchants. Yahoo! Shopping operates in a similar way to Google Product Search in that it utilizes a horizontal search structure across pre-established ecommerce websites. (5)
It’s been informative looking at the other sites that are in direct competition with eBay, each of the different sites all have their own individual strengths and weaknesses. Competitors such as Google and Yahoo are not necessarily direct competition to eBay due to the fact they simply list the items relevant to the search- however competitors sites will be listed in their searches.
The next stage is to look at the eBay marketing campaigns and to see how they have marketed themselves previously.
Sources used within this Blog
(1), (2) www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebay
(3), (4), (5) http://www.lightecho.com/index.php/internet-technology/top-10-auction-sites-possible-ebay-killers
D&AD eBay viral ad campaign
I have been set a new project, which is D&AD. This is a global competition created for students to give them an experience of working to an industry set brief of their choice.
Initially I had a wide range of categories to choose from, however some of them were not suitable. Categories such as architecture, or interior design simply wouldn’t be working to my strengths.
After much deliberation, I decided to work on the eBay viral marketing campaign. This brief would be looking into an unexplored area of creating media purely for online distribution.
Initially I had a wide range of categories to choose from, however some of them were not suitable. Categories such as architecture, or interior design simply wouldn’t be working to my strengths.
After much deliberation, I decided to work on the eBay viral marketing campaign. This brief would be looking into an unexplored area of creating media purely for online distribution.
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