Brief:
- EBay expanded a campaign that mocks the "holiday creep" phenomenon among marketers that promotes gift shopping earlier every year. The online marketplace will place $1 in a "Holiday Jargon Jar" — up to $50,000 — every time a major brand uses a holiday buzzword in its Twitter posts, and then donate the money to charity, per an announcement shared with Mobile Marketer.
- EBay is using a combination of algorithms and humans to scan Twitter for the top 100 holiday buzzwords from 2,000 major brands. Those buzzwords include holiday, jolly, merry, mistletoe, Rudolph, spirit, 'tis and 'twas, among others.
- Twitter users can participate in the campaign by marking holiday-themed tweets with a #HolidayJargon hashtag and following eBay's @HolidayJargon account on Twitter. The company will donate the proceeds from the jargon jar to the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), a national nonprofit that counsels business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs.
Insight:
EBay's "Holiday Jargon Jar" effort extends last month's launch of the "Holiday Chill" campaign with a fresh take on "swear jars" that some people use to penalize themselves each time they cuss. EBay has made "holiday creep" a central theme this year, mocking other companies for promoting the shopping season earlier each year while also publicizing its own brand as consumers start thinking about their gift-buying plans. The campaign is meant to be more lighthearted than derisive, with a cause-driven element that urges people to participate in giving to charity through Giving Tuesday, a broader fundraising event to counterbalance the consumerism of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Cause-driven campaigns align well with the values of young adults and teens who are significant users of social media, as they tend to show greater affinity for socially conscious brands. Brita, Chipotle, Nestlé's Poland Spring water brand and Nike are among those weaving causes into their recent marketing campaigns to win over consumers. The efforts need to come across as an authentic representation of a brand's values, which eBay is trying to accomplish supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs, who are among its sellers and buyers.
In this campaign, eBay aims for viral publicity by urging Twitters users to participate in the campaign while spreading the word on the social network through user-generated content. Social media challenges have become a popular way to promote word-of-mouth advertising, with brands such as Burger King, DiGiorno, Ralph Lauren, StubHub and Walmart running participatory campaigns on platforms like Instagram, Twitter and TikTok that urge sharing.
