Advertiser: EBAY
Agency: VENABLES BELL & PARTNERS
Category: Best Use of Branded Content & Sponsorship
Advertising campaign: BUILT
Interactive Art Director: Angie Mc Donald (Venables Bell & Partners)
3D Artist: Daniel Duncan (Lumberyard)
Production Manager: Brett Adkins (Source Interlink Media)
Director Of Photography: Clint Stringfellow (Source Interlink Media)
Director Of Integrated Production: Craig Allen (Venables Bell & Partners)
Executive Creative Director: Paul Venables (Venables Bell & Partners)
Executive Creative Director: Will McGinness (Venables Bell & Partners)
Live Action Producer: Therese Vreeland (Venables Bell & Partners)
Art Director: Brad Kayal (Venables Bell & Partners)
Director Of Research And Analytics: Jeff Burger (Venables Bell & Partners)
Creative Director: Lee Einhorn (Venables Bell & Partners)
3D Development Partner: Shawn Myers (Artifact)
Trailer Editor: Steve Courtney (Lumberyard)
Director Of Creative Technology: Aaron Clinger (Venables Bell & Partners)
Director of Experience Design: Aiden Bordner (Venables Bell & Partners)
Copywriter: Brad Phifer (Venables Bell & Partners)
Interactive Producer: Christina Nickas (Venables Bell & Partners)
Print And Art Producer: Jacqueline Fodor (Venables Bell & Partners)
Director Of Interactive Production: Manjula Nadkarni (Venables Bell & Partners)
Editor: Matt Odom (Source Interlink Media)
Execution
The media mix for 'BUILT' was hugely important in finding hard-to-target car lovers and making the series accessible wherever discovered, via PC or mobile. Once the idea of a branded entertainment platform was created, the media team crafted a mix of digital, social and print channels to drive to our immersive 'BUILT' experience. We partnered with four popular car publications and their editors who pushed readers and fans to content via print, digital, and individual social channels. YouTube pre-roll helped target car lovers when they were already watching car-centric content.'BUILT' had a heavy social push that included fan voting for favorite car build, and outreach from eBay’s social media pages. Combined with sponsored emails from eBay and magazine partners, the digital presence of 'BUILT' required us to make its web experience fully capable on both PC/mobile. This resulted in frictionless participation no matter how our target approached the program.
Effectiveness
'BUILT' was hugely successful in changing perceptions of eBay. -BUILTfromEBAY.com attracted over half a million unique visitors from 203 different countries. -Visitors who watched the video content stayed on the site for 16 minutes on average.-'BUILT' saw an 18% lift in people saying that eBay has a better car parts selection than other sites.-There was a 28% bump in people saying eBay has something different than other sites.-'BUILT' resulted in a 6.1% lift in purchase intent when it came to visitors who watched the series.
Strategy
As a demographic, car guys are tough to nail down, and stuck in their ways. So even though eBay has an enormous selection of new auto parts, most car lovers stick to what they know – swap meets and auto parts stores. That’s why eBay wanted to increase consideration among car guys when buying auto parts.One thing we knew is that they enjoy watching and following car builds. So, we created something they’d love: a branded entertainment platform centered around car builds. We created 'BUILT,' a car show with eBay the star. The premise was simple: challenge four garages to buy a car off eBay Motors and transform it using only parts bought off eBay. Once finished, the cars would go back on eBay and auctioned for charity. The result was a program that left our target audience entertained and educated, while highlighting eBay’s huge selection of auto parts.