“People are good. That’s what Pierre Omidyar was thinking when he started eBay in his living room back in 1995. His idea was simple: That people could buy and sell goods and services from one another honestly, fairly and openly. Almost 10 years and millions of transactions later, his idea has proven to be more successful than anyone ever imagined. Today, people are doing more than just buying and selling on eBay. They’re establishing personal connections with like-minded strangers, discovering the things they love, and starting and running their own businesses. They’re joining a community where anything is possible if we all put our mind to it, and believe. eBay. The Power Of All Of Us.”
The above feel-good copy is part of the new eBay campaign from San Francisco’s finest, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners.
While the notion that anything is possible if we just believe is pure hyperbole, the insight that eBay is a community–like Friendster or LinkedIn–that consumers can and do join is rock solid. And in this time of intense political divisions in our country, it’s nice to be reminded of our common ground, even when that reminder is actually a large corporation’s effort to sell more product.
