We created an original webisode series that featured “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” comedian, Samantha Bee, reporting on a phenomenon we dubbed “Unwrap Attacks.”The webisodes focused on spotlighting the phenomenon that we felt embodied emotional gifting: people receiving those perfect gifts that made them so emotional and uncontrollably excited to the point of literally losing it. Samantha personified the target audience: the perfect person to guide them to eBay for the holiday season.The campaign was paired with a digital PR strategy including an influencer network consisting of 10 top tier influencers who received exclusive access to EBAY products, and 40 digital influencers with highly engaged audiences to sustain word of mouth.

We also rounded up the bloggers at EBAY headquarters as part the engagement, where we filmed unique videos of them with Samantha for their media properties, and gave them ideas and tools to evangelize the program.

The combined elements in the Love to Give campaign turned what is historically EBAY’s toughest period, into a huge success.eBay saw an 18% increase in holiday sales, and recorded 800,000 video views in a very short and saturated 6 week holiday window, including a #3 most-viewed video (YouTube honour). There was a 132% increase in social media mentions around the brand, with 99% favourable sentiment online.

The campaign was also covered by Stuart Elliot of The New York Times, as well as The Huffington Post. “Unwrap Attack” even made it into the Urban Dictionary.