Auction site and retailer Onsale Inc. launched a $10 million
advertising and brand-building campaign that features radio and print ads.
The campaign is aimed at business buyers and consumers who use the Internet to
purchase PCs and computer products.
Onsale recently expanded its services to offer a range of new computer
products with Onsale atCost, complementing its original service of offering
excess goods
through Onsale atAuction.
Onsale atCost lets customers purchase new computer products at wholesale
prices plus a “transaction fee,” rather than the common retail markup. The
company said. Onsale atAuction lets customers bid at auction on a range of
excess and closeout computer products, consumer electronics, sporting goods
and vacation packages.
“We created a campaign that reflects our business proposition,” said Jerry
Kaplan, Onsale’s president and CEO. “This humorous campaign parodies the high-
pressure ‘special offer’ cliches of retail advertising to communicate that our
customers get everyday low prices, based on our wholesale invoice costs.”
The radio campaign debuted in Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, San
Francisco, Seattle and Washington DC. The print campaign focuses on major
business publications such as Business Week, Time and
Newsweek, and selected
trade publications.
