MediaCom, Goodby Silverstein Get Global eBay Assignments

Online auction and fixed-price transaction company eBay has added WPP's MediaCom and Omnicom's Goodby Silverstein to its global roster of agencies, the company has confirmed. MediaCom will handle global media duties and Goodby will do creative work. 

The client spends an estimated $300 million on ads worldwide, with more than half the total earmarked for U.S. expenditures.

The move comes as the auction/transactions firm continues to reel from a security breach disclosed in May. The company has vowed to boost marketing efforts in a bid to regain consumer trust. 

The company has stressed that no consumer financial data was compromised, but urged eBay members to reset passwords as a precaution. More than 80% of eBay users have done so, and company executives have acknowledged that member activity on the eBay site has dropped substantially since the breach was disclosed.

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Further fallout from the breach emerged Wednesday when the company was slapped with a proposed class-action lawsuit filed by Louisiana resident Collin Green.

“The injuries to the class members flow from a common nucleus of operative facts,” the suit stated. “eBay collected personal information it knew was highly valuable to thieves, and took inadequate steps to protect that information, in breach of its obligations and the laws of 47 states and the United States. The information was stolen, and eBay waited an unreasonably long time to either detect or report the theft to its customers. The failure damaged each customer as each will, at a minimum, incur significant identity protection costs and concerns.”

The suit seeks compensatory and consequential damages and other costs.

For MediaCom, the new assignment is a huge new piece of business from the client. It was recently appointed media AOR for eBay in the Europe Middle East and Africa region, where ad spending exceeds $100 million. 

Confirming the awards, eBay issued a statement: "Today, eBay is a dynamic shopping destination that connects people to the things they need and love - whenever, wherever and however they choose.  As our brand evolves, we're constantly looking for new ways to inspire and engage our buyers and sellers around the world.  We have recently engaged Goodby Silverstein and Partners and Mediacom as our agency partners to help us explore how to continue telling the story of eBay."

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