THE ISSUE: EBay has long been synonymous with online auctions, though most of the things people buy on the site these days have fixed prices and most items for sale are new.
THE CAMPAIGN: EBay unveiled a major new advertising campaign on Wednesday that is aimed at people who shop on smartphones. The online marketplace operator also hopes the campaign will change lingering misperceptions about eBay so people see it as a hip innovator.
MOBILE IS MAJOR: Mobile shopping is a still-small but quickly growing part of eBay’s business. Since 2008, its mobile app has been downloaded more than 50 million times, and it expects the value of goods sold through mobile to total $4 billion this year.