Case study Overview
Objectives
The focus of the cooperation between eBay and Mercedes-Benz was to promote the new Mercedes Benz E-Class to a younger target group and owners of competitor brands, generate concrete leads for test drives and, ultimately, gain new customers for the brand.
Solution
We developed a solution that focused on three core stages of activity:
- Excite - increase penetration of the Mercedes comm programme
- Engage - intensify customer connection, turning contacts into prospects
- Experience - convert prospects into test-drives
Excite
Targeted ads promoting the E-Class Experience ran across eBay Motors. We also developed the E-Class Lounge, a special landing page which provided more information and set up an eye-catching charity auction for the first model. Promotional eBay newsletters, stories, and a podcast were also run on eBay Media for users to learn more about the car.
Engage
10 eBay branded E-Class cars were reserved exclusively for users in a competition to win the chance to drive one in Paris to Peking Experience. We placed an 'E' countdown on eBay in order to encourage users to attend the charity auction and set up a raffle for participation in the E-Class Challenge.
Experience
We ran auctions for involvement in the E-Class Navi Events, qualified leads via selective target group comms (e.g. invitation of PowerSellers to the E-Class Suite) and sent e-mail alerts to remind prospects to register for or attend test drives.
Results
The strategic fit between eBay and Mercedes-Benz was ideal along three core dimensions:
- Brand - there is consistency between eBay's and Mercedes-Benz's core brand values of trust, safety and fun
- Context - as an information and transaction platform eBay, in combination with eBay Motors ensures the message reaches those in the right frame of mind
- Target group - eBay Motors has a strong emphasis on younger target groups and eBay is highly popular with drivers of competitor brands.
More than 12 million members of the eBay community received campaign newsletters and a huge amount of traffic was generated to the Mercedes-Benz landing page. The campaign reached out to more youthful audiences and, through data capture, helped create new avenues for promotional activity. Specifically, the initiative delivered:
- 70m ad impressions
- 150,000 visits to the landing page (a click rate of 0.21%)
- 87,500 visits to the registration page
- 33,000 final registrations
- Over 28,000 registrations with marketing opt-in