FG|PG designed, fabricated, and produced the eBay Market-Verse Experience at New York Comic Con. The space showcased the wide variety of eBay collectibles, featured the eBay LIVE stage which streamed real-time auctions and interviews, and drew buzz with various activations, give aways, and creator/talent appearances.
THE BACKGROUND:
Our primary objective was to help eBay have a “must-attend” experience that would attract the 250,000+ attendees at New York Comic Con in a way that would position eBay as the leader in collectibles and support the various types of fans and collectors that attend. eBay was also looking for ways to engage people to create an account on eBay, or follow us on social, while ensuring our experience generated sales from the show floor with the many exclusive collectibles that were being showcased and that were up for auction.
CHALLENGE:
Different people have different perceptions of what eBay is known for. Even though eBay is the leader in collectibles and has many of the most coveted collectibles available, some still see it as a digital flea market of sorts. One goal of the experience was to showcase the eBay “Authenticity Guarantee” which enables customers to know the things they buy were evaluated and appraised to be authentic.
THE IDEA:
ENTER THE EBAY MARKET-VERSE EXPERIENCE
Our unique twist on the “multiverse” within comic lore enabled us to create an authentic connection with the comic culture that exists at New York Comic Con with a graphic approach that felt fresh, would be visually intriguing enough to capture the attention of the 250K+ attendees at NYCC to step into our booth, explore eBay’s multidimensional offerings, and provide a graphic system for us to tell our story on the many walls, screens, and nuances of our footprint.
From a distance, bold colors, big graphics, and neon accents couldn’t be missed. As people stepped closer, our entry “portals” revealed a multi-verse of unique activations including; a live stream stage, daily challenges, and exclusive collectibles that were on display for purchase.
Unique Details Included:
- eBay Live Stream Stage: Central to our experience, eBay influencers and partners streamed real-time auctions for exclusive collectibles and special “drops”, interviewed industry icons, and hyped up the various activations and zones within our space.
- Decoder Scavenger Hunt: A daily scavenger hunt that included special clues, tinted decoder glasses, and hidden prize boxes that had thousands of people on the hunt across all of NYCC to claim coveted, high value collectible prizes.
- Exclusives Gallery & Funko Wall: A central display of coveted collectibles only available at NYCC and an artful wall of exclusive Funko’s that surrounded one of our entry portals.
- Partner Zones: Showcasing eBay’s exclusive partnerships within our booth.
- Oversized eBay/Funko Box Photo Op: Fans could step in, and pose as a life-sized Funko figurine.
- Signings, Photographs, Celebs, and More: A robust schedule of industry icons, comic artists, and in-booth challenges kept our Market-Verse experience energized and kept the attendees coming back for more.
THE DECODER SCAVENGER HUNT ACTIVATION CREATED MASSIVE BUZZ AND ENERGY, LEVERAGING A SPIRIT OF COMPETITION AND CHILDHOOD WONDER.
Tapping into 50’s comic culture, and the decoder glasses many of our target remember from their youth, this daily activation had hundreds of people jam our booth for a chance to claim high value, ultra-exclusive collectibles from the eBay vault.
To participate in the daily scavenger hunt attendees were required to follow eBay collectibles on social or show us they have an eBay account. This was designed to grow the user base, build followership, and show how quick it is to set up an account. From there, they were handed branded, red tinted decoder glasses.
Our digital screens, and in-booth Live Stage announcers promoted the activation and the rules to play.
Each day, at set times, attendees could come to our booth to get their special clue cards. These could only be read by wearing the decoder glasses. And for those that could decipher the clue, they would then know where to find our hidden decoder prize box.
People worked solo. People worked in teams. People were stumped. People were genius. People sprinted to the locations. And some, moved just a bit to slowly… as others used their decoder glasses to find the “WINNER” box, avoiding our “decoys” that those without the decoder glasses thought were real.
Overall, this worked wildly well, driving people into our footprint, exciting crowds, and enabling thousands of people to better understand the types of collectibles they could find on eBay.
EBAY LIVE: FEATURING LIVE AUCTIONS ON THE NEW PLATFORM, INTERVIEWS WITH CREATORS AND COMIC LEGENDS, AND AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION MOMENTS.
This was central to our experience, from which eBay influencers, artists, and new partners streamed real-time auctions for exclusive collectibles and special daily “drops”. We also interviewed industry icons, and hyped up the various activations and zones within our space each day.
CREATORS ON STAGE AND IN BOOTH FOR INTERVIEWS, SIGNINGS, PHOTO OPS AND MORE.
RESULTS:
Total Booth Attendance:
- Across the 4 days of New York Comic Con we saw over 100,000 attendees engage with our booth.
Decoder Scavenger Hunt:
- Our high value collectibles hunt was designed to drive maximum exposure during Friday and Saturday of the show. Held twice daily, we handed out over 2000 pair of glasses. With approximately 200-500 people participating during each of our 4 challenges.
Live Stage and eBay Live Stream Auctions:
- Each day we held approximately 5 hours of exclusive content creation from our Live Stage.
- Crowds would gather to listen and watch our guests in our booth, helping keep the energy of our booth always electric.
- For our exclusive auctions, every single item sold out, with thousands of people competing online for the high bid within the time frame set. A few of our exclusive items went into high bidding wars, ultimately selling for thousands of dollars each.
Daily Market-Verse Challenges:
- Each morning, the first 200 people in line at our booth received a special ticket that could be redeemed for an exclusive collectible Funko in their booth next door. This created a frenzy of activity, with hundreds of people rushing to get on our line within one minute of opening.
Artist Signings:
- Each day we had a full schedule of artists in our booth to do meet and greets, comic signings, and interviews.
- For each signing, we saw between 100-250 people line up for their chance to meet our talent.
Oversized eBay/Funko Box Photo Op: Our exterior booth photo activation turned fans into figurines.
Across all activations, some which required having an eBay account or following us on social, we tracked over 2000 new people joining eBay platforms, exceeding our expectations.
AWARDS:
- Ex Award: Best In-Booth Trade Show Activation/Experience – Gold Finalist (Announced April 24th, 2024)