eBay Starts Commercials
from the now's-a-good-time dept
While every other dot com in the world is running away from television commercials, eBay has suddenly decided the time is right. They're launching their first national television ad campaign this weekend. The article claims that part of the purpose of the advertising is to distance itself from the dot com "gloom". However, they point out that eBay has grown mostly through word-of-mouth advertising. So why start advertising now when word-of-mouth has built one of the most successful internet brands? Personally, I wonder how many folks out there haven't heard of eBay yet, and if they haven't, why a TV commercial will suddenly convince them to check it out. If anything, this strikes me as a waste of money - rather than prudent spending.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
