Repositioning eBay through retail thought leadership

Challenge

Position eBay as a thought leader and innovator in retail, to move them away from their perception as an auction house and communicate eBay’s leadership position in electronics – a category that saw over 110 million searches in 2014.

Culture

Marketers’ predictions of future technology are often way off the mark: in 2013 we were told that 3D TVs were predicted to take-over the home viewing experience, but consumers turned their back on the much-hyped tech. With more than 8 million people visiting each month, and over 110m searches in the electronics category in 2014 - eBay is the true home of data and trend firsts – eBay can actually see which products are gaining traction before anyone else. Pulse wanted to use eBay’s extensive online data paired with consumer reactions to provide an intelligent snapshot of technology adoption in Australia.

Creativity

Pulse partnered with industry technology analysts, Telsyte, to analyse one million lines of data from eBay to determine consumer buying patterns in electronics, releasing a thought leadership report into technology buying trends. The white paper also made top technology predictions for 2016 based on eBay data. In a world first Pulse combined the latest emotion analytics and visual recognition technology together with dwell time tracking to capture participants’ reactions to the top tech predictions outlined in the Economics of Electronics report. These included robots, 3D printing and holograms. Pulse created a futuristic Innovation Lab in September 2015 in Sydney and consumers were invited to walk around the space where each interaction was captured by a sophisticated headset and cameras placed around the Lab. Renowned futurist Chris Riddell analysed the data to predict what would and wouldn’t be welcomed into our homes, providing insights into what Australians can expect from the future and providing a profile of how Australia responds to technology. Each participant at the Innovation Lab received a personalised report detailing their responses to each of the products and classifying their tech adoption archetype, which they then shared through their social feeds. Analysed findings were hosted and released to media and consumers through the dedicated website: http://www.ebaytrendforecast.com.au/

Clout

Over 3000 people went through the Innovation Lab. The campaign generated 145 pieces of coverage, including over six hours of broadcast coverage with highlights syndicated Sky News and Channel 7. We garnered interest from Parliament and were invited to showcase the Innovation Lab at Parliament House in November. Following this, during his Innovation Speech in early December, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull commented that he wants people to be able to communicate with the Australian Government as they do with eBay.