Last night’s episode of Gruen zoned in on the advertising battle between online marketplace giants Amazon and eBay.
GTB integrated business lead Camey O'Keefe said the campaigns from Amazon and eBay were chalk and cheese, favouring TBWA's first work for Amazon over 72andSunny's latest eBay ad, featuring Shane Warne.
"This ad is a trainwreck, it's the complete antithesis of the Amazon spot," she said.
"I don't know who it's for. I'm distracted by Warnie. I'm not sure what he is doing there and then when he starts to talk about bargain hunting I think are you insane? I was left utterly confused."
In the 30-second ads, Warne reflects on his recent purchases with regret, including an expensive pair of headphones and a juicer.
The ad is the second produced by 72andSunny for eBay since the creative agency opened in Australia last year, landing the online marketplace as one of its foundation clients.
O'Keefe was joined by host Wil Anderson and regular faces former Leo Burnett executive chairman Todd Sampson, PwC chief creative officer Russel Howcroft and Leo Burnett Sydney head of connect strategy Emily Taylor.
Sampson was quick to slam eBay's choice of spokesperson for its ad campaign, adding that most people wouldn't relate to Warnie.
"I don't get the link here. It feels to me as if eBay built the campaign around Warnie, instead of building the campaign around eBay," he said.
"I don't remember anything in that ad besides the robot and thinking 'why is Shane Warne in this ad?'. It doesn't work in this case."
Howcroft turned his attention to Amazon's strategy, labelling it "advertising at its very best". He said TBWA "absolutely nailed" the execution, which positions Amazon as the marketplace for everything from A to Z.
Sampson praised Amazon for establishing a local presence early, rather than running with the original global campaign.
He said localising the ad would help build a better relationship between Amazon and the Australian public.
The series of Amazon ads are the first major TV push from Amazon since it launched in Australia last December.
Previously the retail giant was running global ads in this market and worked with Ogilvy Sydney to create an outdoor campaign for its Echo product.
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