eBay Motors

Challenge

Be the must-see brand and event destination

While at the SEMA Show, eBay Motors set a goal to rev up its cool factor and increase engagement with dealers, automotive buyers (cars and parts), and enthusiasts. To create maximum impact, the brand also planned to expand its presence at the show with both indoor and outdoor activations, as well as a social media blitz.

eBay Motors engagement objectives at the SEMA Show:

• Educate possible new customers (dealers or individuals) about the eBay Motors platform and increase the number of users
• Provide current users with best practices for using the platform to sell
• Show dealers and larger clients how to expand their presence and grow sales

With other brands also trying to stand out at the nation’s largest automotive and aftermarket show, what would eBay Motors need to achieve pole position for attendee engagement?

Solution

Driving a two-way engagement experience

Our experiential design, design strategy, and event production teams jumped in to help eBay Motors become the must-see and must-experience event for attendees at the SEMA Show.

With two immersive activations to plan, it was essential for eBay to align the strategies in both spaces. Coordinating the branding and content story, eBay thoughtfully designed each activation to drive attendee traffic to the other — always keeping the experience in mind.

ACTIVATION 1: INDOOR

The indoor experience was designed to create brand awareness and support making deeper connections with eBay Motors’ three target audiences (prospects, current users, large-scale clients).

A giant, 40-foot LED display brightened the show hall and highlighted the eBay Motors brand with fast-moving, pre-recorded video and live shots of the outside activation, increasing traffic from attendees eager to be part of the action-packed experience.

Live platform kiosks were built allowing eBay Motors experts to show users best practices using a live platform.

Sound-reducing rooms made it possible to break away from the high-energy show floor to have private conversations in person with individual customers or small groups.

ACTIVATION 2: OUTDOOR

Our team’s logistical support and expertise laid the foundation for the eBay outdoor experience, paving the way for attendees to get up close and personal (and in the drivers’ seat) with an exciting automotive performance experience. Two performance tracks were built to create the experience:

• Burnout trap for performance cars to spin donuts while fans safely watched behind protective barriers
• Drifting track for Toyota Supras to take fans around an audience-protected track while showing off performance enhancements that turned the Supras into super speeders

“The eBay Motors Experience will be the center of the action at this year’s Show,” said Tom Gattuso, SEMA Vice President of Events. “It will be set up so that attendees are able to engage with the vehicles and the products in a way that they’ve never been able to do before. Showgoers are going to feel the impact of the feature immediately when they arrive at the show.”

Result

Road and tracking impressive engagement and impressions

Throughout the event eBay Motors was buzzing with traffic — online and in each booth activation.

Sarah Burgess, Senior Partnership Development Manager, said, “We were so excited to have both our indoor and outdoor experiences help us reach more attendees and connect with audiences in ways that they’ll remember long after the show. Freeman played a big part in helping eBay Motors achieve that, and as a result, we really did increase our cool factor.”