Objectives

eBay is the OG online marketplace for buyers and sellers, but it has faced twin headwinds recently:

• “FleaBay” perception of poor quality and bad experiences
• An influx of newer and more culturally resonant competitors

We’ve been developing eBay’s highest-value product categories into distinct sub-brands, with eBay Motors leading the way.  Our mission? Use the power of social media to increase upper-funnel consideration, restore brand equity, and become the most desirable place to buy, sell, and join communities around shared passions.

Strategy and Execution

Offroading is a major subculture of the motors community.  Enthusiasts seek experiences and personal achievement off the beaten trail, and YouTube is where they find inspiration to upgrade their rides and take on adventures.  The client challenged us to make eBay the No. 1 marketplace for offroaders, so we asked wild YouTube creators to select from the 122 million parts and accessories on eBay Motors to turn a 1979 Bronco into a mind-blowing trail beast to conquer America’s most challenging trails.

This epic relay-race narrative dives deep into the collaborative process of building out the Bronco for each leg of the journey, with creators ordering eBay parts to solve challenges in real time.

Offroading enthusiasts don’t want highlights, they want the full journey. We delivered:

• One hour of original content
• Three challenge episodes, a meet-up episode, and behind-the-scenes content
• An integrated roll-out strategy of 200-plus unique assets across YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook

Results

This campaign is still live, but as of December 6, the community has delivered:

• 35,000 new YouTube channel subscribers
• 5.4MM  total series views
• 100MM minutes watched
• 6:28 minute average episode watch time

Though the series is wrapped, its IP will live on as the eBay Modathon Bronco changes hands among creators for more content, and appears at motors events and meet-ups across the country.

Media