DDB Worldwide's DDB Tribal and Carat Appointed Lead Agencies for eBay in Europe

NEW YORK, Feb. 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- eBay today announced it has appointed DDB Worldwide's DDB Tribal to be its lead brand communication agency for Europe. The move extends the scope of DDB Tribal's work with eBay, which was previously focused on the German market. In addition, eBay announced that it has named Carat its European media planning and buying partner.

Alex von Schirmeister, Vice President of Marketing, Operations and Advertising for eBay in Europe, said: "For some time we have wanted a truly pan-European partner to work with us to develop the eBay brand. With DDB Tribal we now have an agency that can provide the full range of innovative brand communication across our key European markets, which include UK, Germany, France and Italy."

Eric Schoeffler, Chief Creative Officer at DDB Tribal, said: "In the past months we have demonstrated that we are the right partner for eBay because we combine a good understanding of the brand and the market with passion and creativity." Schoeffler added, "The markets are highly competitive, but eBay is an icon. Only a few brands are as popular with consumers as eBay, so our goal is to make people feel the 'eBay fascination' over and over again."

Mr. von Schirmeister  also stated: "With Carat we have for the first time a pan-European media planning and buying agency. This is an important development as we seek to leverage our scale across the region."

Carat, which began working with eBay in the UK in 2008, will create a bespoke central account hub based in London to bring together its local market knowledge and expertise for eBay.

Steve Pople, Group Business Director, Carat, said: "A truly iconic brand with a history of innovation, creativity and growth, eBay continues to evolve; we're delighted and excited that we have been chosen as their media agency partner across Europe. eBay has clear and measurable objectives and ambition for the business and, together with DDB, we're collectively focused on delivering these in 2011."

About eBay

Founded in 1995 in San Jose, Calif., eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) connects hundreds of millions of buyers and sellers globally on a daily basis through eBay, the world's largest online marketplace, and PayPal, which enables individuals and businesses to securely, easily and quickly send and receive online payments. We also reach millions through specialized marketplaces such as StubHub, the world's largest ticket marketplace, and eBay Classifieds sites, which together have a presence in more than 1,000 cities around the world. For more information about the company and our global portfolio of online brands, visit www.ebayinc.com.

About Carat

Carat was the first independent media specialist in Europe and a pioneer of unbundling—the separation of media services from full service creative agencies. It is now a global independent media communications network represented in 82 countries and offers clients a range of services including: communications planning, sponsorship, interactive, direct, event, pr, consumer research and insight, business to business, international services, regional and global client servicing. Carat is part of Aegis Media, the media communications business of Aegis Group plc. www.carat.com

About DDB Tribal

DDB Tribal Group GmbH is a multichannel agency with offices in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Vienna and Wolfsburg , serving customers such as Volkswagen, Bosch, Telekom, Henkel, McDonald´s, Deutsche Bahn, Ikea and many more. DDB Tribal is an agency of DDB Worldwide

About DDB

DDB Worldwide Communications Group Inc (www.ddb.com) ranks among the top five consolidated advertising and marketing services global networks, according to Advertising Age. Consistently one of the most awarded networks globally for creative excellence, DDB was Campaign's 2009 Global Network of the Year, the 2010 Spikes Asia Network of the Year, 2010 Eurobest Network of the Year, 2010 Campaign Asia Pacific Creative Network of the Year and captured both the Cyber Grand Prix and Film Craft Grand Prix at the 2010 International Advertising Festival in Cannes. With more than 200 offices in over 90 countries, the DDB Group helps grow the value and influence of leading brands around the world. DDB Worldwide is part of Omnicom Group Inc. (OMC).

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SOURCE Tribal DDB