Country Living, eBay To Launch Cross Promotion - magazine and Web auction site plan joint marketing program - Brief Article

Brandweek, Jan 22, 2001 by Jennifer Owens

Country Living, a shelter and lifestyle title published by New York-based Hearst Magazines, has launched a cross promotion program with eBay this month, tying a new branded area on eBay's auction supersite to the print magazine's monthly "Country Icons" column.

For example, you can buy the same pale green Depression Glass on eBay, based in San Jose, Calif., that you find in the pages of Country Living's February issue (at www.ebay.com/countryliving). According to Nancy Soriano, the magazine's editor in chief, the specific items featured on the eBay page will change each week.

Soriano, who said she approached eBay about creating the Country Living area, explained that the partnership is an editorial one, with no money changing hands. Yet, it's also a promotional one. Country Living will promote the eBay pages in its print publication as well as on its own Web site (countryliving.com). EBay will feature the branded area on its front page as well as on related category pages, such as Antiques & Art.

"We felt that since our readers are such passionate collectors and antique aficionados, it would make perfect sense to have a partner with auction capability on the Web," said Soriano. "And eBay was the first to come to mind because of their track record and their size."

At eBay, Jim Davis, vp of marketing, said the relationship--currently slated for a three-month run, but now being discussed for longer--should help attract new users to the auction site. First, said Davis, it "creates an awareness for categories" that users don't typically connect with eBay. "And to Country Living readers, it introduces eBay in a different way, because now it's being brought to you by Country Living. So it's a safer place to come, and it demystifies the whole [online auction] process."

To Soriano, the idea of fostering a safe place for Country Living readers to bid on items culled from known antique dealers was also important. "[Readers] know they are working with reputable dealers who will be selling reputable products," she said. "And in this day and age with great reproductions, that's very important."

She added that she also sees the partnership as a way to expand the Country Living brand as well as to attract new readers to her magazine. Said Soriano, "I think it's an opportunity for a lot of eBay users to get involved with Country Living and realize that the magazine has a lot of information that applies to them, even though technically they may not think of themselves as 'country.'"