Alibaba debuts $30m global campaign

The campaign will run in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, with key markets being Australia, Europe, Hong Kong, the UK and the US. It has teamed up with local companies to target internet users. The campaign will include online, TV, print, radio, outdoor elements and live events.

Alibaba launched its campaign last week in the US by airing TV spots around presidential election coverage on news stations. Digital ads will be placed on sites such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask.com, Facebook and local-language sites “from Russia to Vietnam”, said an Alibaba spokeswoman.

“We see the current difficult environment as a chance to strengthen our market leadership position and attract more users to our global import and export marketplace,” she said.

While the bulk of the campaign will be managed by Alibaba’s in-house teams, it will enlist outside agencies, the spokeswoman said, adding: “No advertising agency pitch has been arranged yet.”

The news came a week after Alibaba Group announced it would invest US$732 million over the next five years in its e-commerce site Taobao.com.