EBay on Monday unveiled a new advertising and branding strategy developed with upstart creative agency 72andSunny Los Angeles dubbed "Fill Your Cart With Color,” according to a company press release.
The campaign will launch with a new TV spot, followed by an approach across TV, cinema, OOH, display and social, the company said. The marketing effort comes amid enhanced and more personalized eBay shopping experiences, including a redesigned, responsive homepage that leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning technology, according to the announcement.
In April the company lowered its guidance for adjusted profit in the second quarter due to investments in its homepage, mobile site and marketing. It also reported a first quarter revenue increase of 3.7% to $2.2 billion that was mostly in line with analyst expectations. EBay's net income from continuing operations in the quarter was $1.0 billion, up from $482 million in the year-ago period. The company added 2 million active buyers across its platforms, growing 4% for a total of 169 million global active buyers.

CEO Devin Wenig in April touted eBay’s recent changes, including a more discovery-based home page, updates to its mobile app, a new authentication program to help protect buyers from purchases of fakes and an amped-up delivery program. All those moves are now also being proclaimed to shoppers in this full-scale marketing effort.

While color is a theme of the campaign — which taps three directors whose resumes include feature films, music videos and creative work for top global brands — the rainbow-painted eBay logo is being scaled down to two-tone text blocks from the flagship combo which features light blue lettering in a purple box. Directors Bridget Savage Cole, Josh Nussbaum and Director X each shot their component of the spot separately in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York respectively, the company said.

"Individuality and self-expression are at the heart of the eBay brand, delivered through an extraordinary breadth of inventory from around the world,"  Karl Isaac, eBay VP of Global Brand, said in a statement. "As consumers pursue their passions and reject conformity, both in commerce and culture, 'Fill Your Cart With Color' celebrates the things that truly make people unique, and connects to what people love about eBay, from new and unique items to personalized experiences. Now, more than ever, eBay empowers people to find exactly what they love and express who they are."  

Wenig has talked a lot about partnerships lately, though the concept doesn't extend all that much to retailers. He told analysts in March that brands are increasingly selling directly to consumers via resellers on eBay. “I think that the conversation with brands has definitely changed,” he said, according to a transcript from Seekiing Alpha. “They’re now looking at a platform that is doing $20 billion a quarter, it has 169 million active buyers and … I expect that will accelerate the pace of brand acquisitions through this year, meaning there will be more brands that sell directly or through resellers on eBay directly.”

In a pointed shot to Amazon, Wenig also touted the company’s delivery prowess, noting that customers have often enjoyed speedy shipping since even before the launch this summer of expedited shipping for millions of products. “There will be a change in the user experience, where our customers can sort and filter by three days or two days, or even one day. And sometimes they will pay for that, but many times it will be free," he said. "We just think this is a way to stick our competitive advantage right out there and have no questions about why people shop on eBay and why they should.”