It isn't often that eBay has the opportunity to showcase much more than screen shots when marketing itself as a holiday shopping destination, so for a press-only pop-up in a vacant retail space just off Fifth Avenue last week, the online auctioneer brought in more than 1,000 new and used items to showcase what an actual eBay store might look like.
Working with the company's new public relations firm, Edelman and its internal production team, Edelman Brand Experience, and event designers Retail Md Inc., eBay opened the 5,000-square-foot storefront last Wednesday to different groups of editors and reporters from long- and short-lead publications and had them meet with different spokespeople from the company's technology and fashion categories while looking at the specially curated collection of eBay auction items.
Producers made sure to include pieces of eBay's famous kitsch—a Goonies movie poster, Kiss action figures, and retro furniture—while maintaining the company's current corporate message of affordable high-end products, with fashions from Louis Vuitton and Gucci and shinier things like brand new iPods and motorbikes. Plenty of the stock was showcased on counters, mounted on walls, and draped over mannequins, but more than 1,200 smaller items were strung together from a giant chandelier art installation at the center of the room. Brightly colored belts, ties, necklaces, and even a license plate aimed to illustrate the "essence of eBay."
Gift bags handed out at the editor event included vouchers for eBay auctions, and guests eager to put their prize towards items on showcase could use one of the six computers set up in the back of the room by the bar. It may not have been a traditional pop-up shop, but spending was an option for those keen enough to log on to the site at the venue. Although the focus of the program was on the Wednesday press meetings, eBay kept the space open for the rest of the week for a series of private events.
