When I first started looking at how my company could give back by selling on eBay, I had to look no further than across my street for some inspiration. That's where my good friend Andrew Wise lives. In his non-soccer dad and frustrated rock drummer life, he's the Vice President of Consumer Products at A&E Television Networks (AETN)* and the architect of their very successful eBay Giving Works store.
Since launching their store in April 2006, AETV facilitated 4 major cause-related auctions raising over $125,000 for Starlight Starbright and The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Recently, between chasing after his very active children and equally hyper dog, he sat down to talk to me about how he took what was a fun idea and turned it into a new revenue stream for his company and an avenue to support some really worthwhile causes.
EG: What motivated A&E to get involved with eBay charity auctions?
AW: We opened our eBay store for three main reasons: to compliment our existing distribution channels; to combat counterfeiting of our products by providing a legitimate branded eBay store; and to promote our television programming. The majority of our sales come from DVD's - either from our shows, or they are licensed (ex. Monty Python, Major League Baseball). We manufacture and distribute the products across all of our retail channels. For us eBay serves two strategic purposes - eBay provides alternative distribution for our end-of-lifecycle and excess products, and, we utilize eBay as a promotional vehicle.
eBay casts a wide net and promoting a television show on eBay's home page is very powerful. We found that facilitating a charity auction around our hit shows would be a great give-back to the viewers/fans and also raise proceeds for a good cause. Everyone wins in this scenario!
EG: What was your first charity auction? Did the winning bid come in about where you expected it to be?
AW: We worked with Criss Angel to allow a fan to bid to appear in an episode on television. All proceeds went to Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation. We had no idea where this could go (we weren't ready to qualify bidders) - it was sort of an experiment in the power of eBay, but both eBay and Criss were amazing to work with.
We secured homepage placement on eBay.comand we widely promoted the event on-air and online. The bid closed 10 days after launching at $17,100!! We were floored as was the charity. Even better was that a father won this for his 10 year-old son, a huge Criss fan. Overall, it was a great experience and the beginning of much more.
EG: What auction has gotten you the most surprising results (and I'm not necessarily refering to what brought in the biggest payday)?
AW:The Gene Simmons Axe Bass Guitar started at $50 and quickly went to $78,000. We brought in AuctionCause about half way through the event to qualify the bidders and the bass ended up selling for $9,000. A few Gene fanatics got carried away and Gene predicted that!
EG: What item have you sold for charity that you wish you could have been bidding on?
AW: Well, since I am a musician, I would have loved the Axe Bass - it was designed by Gene himself and it is truly a gorgeous instrument!!
EG: What has the reaction been like from people at A&E about your store? What has the feedback been like outside of your company?
AW: We have received positive feedback all around. Our store provides incremental revenues and marketing opportunities, which are always good.
EG: What advice do you have for others considering doing cause-related auctions?
AW: Cause-related auctions can be a great win-win-win scenario. The winning bidder gets what they want, the charity is provided with additional funding, and we were able to obtain promotion for our programs. If structured correctly, this can be a powerful marketing tool, while also doing a good deed.
*AETN is comprised of A&E Network, The History Channel, The Biography Channel, History International, The Military History Channel, The History Channel en español, Crime & Investigation Network, A&E HD, AETN International and AETN Consumer Products.
