Ebay appoints PHD Media to £3m media planning account
Online auction site Ebay has handed its £3m media planning and buying account to PHD Media, after a four-way pitch involving Starcom Motive, Mediaedge:CIA and the incumbent MediaCom. The move comes as Ebay ramps up for its first above-the-line
Online auction site Ebay has handed its &£3m media planning and buying account to PHD Media, after a four-way pitch involving Starcom Motive, Mediaedge:CIA and the incumbent MediaCom. The move comes as Ebay ramps up for its first above-the-line advertising campaign.
Two months ago, Ebay appointed Delaney Lund Knox Warren (DLKW) as its first above-the-line UK creative agency. DLKW beat Joshua, Ogilvy & Mather and DFGW in a competitive pitch (MW March 25).
Both reviews were overseen by Simon Darling, who is UK marketing director for Ebay. Darling was previously head of interactive marketing for Unilever. In addition to putting the accounts up for review, Darling also appointed Iain Hildreth, formerly head of brand experience at Barclays, as Ebay’s UK head of brand and offline marketing.
PHD and DLKW will be working on a major above-the-line brand marketing campaign, which is due to break this year. While last year’s UK advertising budget was &£3m, this was spent solely on online activity, and it is understood that Ebay’s ad spend over the next 12 months will be significantly higher, reflecting the switch to above-the-line.
Ebay was established in September 1998 and now claims to have more than 62 million registered users around the world, 6.8 million of whom are in the UK. The company has used above-the-line advertising in the US and Germany.