eBay "Don't Trash—It Cash It"

Grand Central Marketing created the "Don't Trash—It Cash It" public service tour for client eBay to educate consumers and generate press coverage about recycling consumer electronics that may pose environmental hazards when disposed of in landfills. GCM designed and produced a special kiosk to test the program in malls in Austin, Seattle, and Boston. This mobile "trading center" was a colorful, eBay-branded backdrop that included a wall of lit up tubes to display collected electronics, as well as conveyer belts to move items from station to station.

In each city, consumers brought in hundreds of working portable consumer electronics—including laptops, cell phones, PDAs and cameras—and met with on-site electronics consultants. These local trading assistants, outfitted in lab coats bearing the eBay logo, appraised each item and advised consumers of their approximate value before listing the items for sale on eBay. Within two weeks, consumers received a check with proceeds from their sales.

The "Don't Trash It—Cash It" tour was featured nationally on NBC Nightly News, and received extensive media coverage in each city it visited, including stories in the Boston Globe, Seattle Times, and numerous local television reports. More than 100,000 mall customers were exposed to the events, and the program was so successful that the tour is continuing to Portland, Denver and Minneapolis in the fall of 2005.

The promotion was supported through street marketing, public relations, in-mall signage and postings on mall websites.