eBay's "it" Ad Campaign

I’ve seen the new eBay “it” ads. I’m not thrilled. In fact, I really am not that thrilled with the entire “it” campaign. When I showed up to eBay Live 2006 and saw a glimmering "it" on the concourse, I thought “What the heck is this!?”

It isn’t that I don’t get it. Though it took me a minute or two to understand that eBay is saying you can get anything on eBay by generically terming a purchase/item  “it.” However, I use eBay every day. My life gravitates to eBay. So, if it took me a minute to get it, what do you think everyone else will think?

I don’t think that the average non-user will get this campaign. Get “it” on eBay? How about showing a bunch of items that people do want to get and showing the range that way? Pump some categories up. Pick some hot sellers. How about the PS3 later this month? Make some co-marketing agreements and offset your ad costs eBay… but this random “it” thing? I really feel like this is one of the worst marketing campaigns ever.

My bottom line is that I get the campaign, they (eBay) get the campaign, even you may get the campaign, but does the potential customer both eBay AND you hope to acquire, get the campaign?