EBay appoints global media agency

EBay has appointed Dentsu’s iProspect as its global media agency following a competitive review.

Campaign previously reported that incumbent EssenceMediacom and Havas Media Network also pitched for the account. 

The media review launched in April this year and an EBay spokesperson at the time said that its “marketing organisation” is currently “moving from a decentralised, market-based model to a more centralised model”.

In a statement given to Campaign following the review, a spokesperson for eBay said: "While we were very impressed with all the agencies who participated, iProspect stood out for their passion of the eBay brand and their strong operating model. Their support will be critical as we focus on full-funnel campaigns that are integrated throughout the entire buying and selling journey. We look forward to working with the iProspect team in 2025 and beyond."

They added: "We want to thank all the agencies who took part in the review process, in particular EssenceMediacom. We appreciate our long-standing relationship and are very proud of the accomplishments we have made over the years.”

The ecommerce website started consolidating its global media account into Group M’s Mediacom, now EssenceMediacom, in 2014. In 2016, Mediacom lost EBay’s US account to Blue 449, now Spark Foundry, before winning the global media account once again in 2019.

This is the latest in a series of account losses for GroupM. In May of this year, EssenceMediacom X lost media duties for L’Oréal UK and Ireland and later digital media duties for Sainsbury’s. In August, EssenceMediacom UK lost the European media account for Sky.

A spokesperson for iProspect said: "iProspect is honoured to be partnering with eBay's visionary team in fully leveraging their market potential and helping drive their global transformation journey. Our shared vision for accelerating growth and optimising performance across the media funnel through innovation, data and technology was clear throughout the entire process. We are excited about our future success together."

According to Comvergence, EBay's media spend is projected to be $350 million in 2024. Of this total sum, $175 million will be handled by the media agency; performance marketing is handled by the brand in-house.

EssenceMediacom declined to comment.