Case study Overview
Background
Since 2007, the Help for Heroes charity and The Sun have worked together to raise money for soldiers wounded in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. They needed to ramp up awareness to raise funds for a network of seven rehabilitation centres, where injured soldiers can rebuild their lives, retrain for new jobs and adapt to civilian life.
Objectives
The objectives of the campaign were as follows:
- Drive brand awareness of the campaign during April 2009
- Create an engaging and branded experience that would encourage people to get involved
- Raise money for the Help for Heroes Charity
Solution
'Auction for Heroes' allowed the eBay community and The Sun readership to show their support by buying and selling on eBay. We created a branded hub, linked to Help for Heroes charity listings and promoted details of how to take part. We used high-impact advertising, on-site marketing, eBay for Charity and free c2c pricing to increase awareness and drive traffic to the campaign through the following initiatives:
Branded microsite and eBay shop
Working with Glue London and i-level, we created a dedicated 'Auction for Heroes' hub on eBay. This homepage showcased celebrity donated items for auction and encouraged people to get involved. It also featured the video of The Sun's TV advertising campaign and a live Twitter feed to attract potential bidders.
Engagement and innovation
We encouraged people to 'do their bit' by selling their own items and donating a percentage of the proceeds. The site and auction pages also showcased items being sold by eBay members to further increase engagement. An innovative widget utilised the eBay API to pull in live charity listings from other sellers.
Enhancing the buyer experience
eBay Advertising provided The Sun with best practice advice and consultancy on the design, build and integration of the branded eBay Shop. This meant we were able to deliver and excellent buyer experience and maximise the success of the celebrity auctions.
Maximum exposure
Through a mix of high-profile homepage placements and creative banner ads, we promoted The Sun's celebrity auctions and money-can't-buy experiences to an audience of 16 million unique users. We used standard display advertising to deliver relevant creative messages for selling and buying on eBay. Dynamic banner ads pulled in live listings from eBay members and drove traffic to the user's listings.
Critical Success Factor
A key element of the campaign was the collaboration across multiple departments at both eBay and The Sun. And none of it would have been possible without the agencies that managed the auction and fulfilled the charity listings and display media.
Results
Results demonstrated that co-branded placements on eBay's homepage supported with targeted and relevant display advertising can deliver huge brand awareness and engagement.
- 100 million media impressions with an average 1.10% CTR in the first 10 days.
- The co-branded homepage placement on launch day received 7 million impressions with a 2.19% CTR
- 1 million visits to www.ebay.co.uk/thesun and 500,000 UK unique visitors.
- 712,000 page views of celebrity donated items, with The Stig's signed helmet and suit reaching 110,000 view in 5 days
- Over 10,000 eBay items listed with at least 10% of final sale price donated
- More than £80,000 raised on www.ebay.co.uk from auctions and donations
