eBay returns as Love Island partner with campaign rooted in digital culture

ITV’s Love Island returns for a new series, coupled up with eBay UK as the official pre-loved fashion partner.

The return is celebrated with a new multi-channel campaign encouraging shoppers to ‘Couple Up With Pre-loved’.

eBay UK has seen 1600% more searches for ‘pre-loved clothes’ since the initial announcement of the partnership in 2022, and 24% more new circular fashion businesses have joined the online marketplace.

New research from ITV also reveals one in two (53%) of Love Island viewers that were aware of the eBay partnership said they’d bought pre-loved in the past three months, more than double the amount for those who hadn’t watched or been aware of the partnership.

"eBay's multi-channel campaign highlights the numerous opportunities available to brands when they couple up with the biggest shows on TV and I can't wait to see the continuing impact of their work," said ITV’s Bhavit Chandrani, Director of Digital and Creative Partnerships.

A trend that is here to stay

“eBay’s sponsorship of Love Island was a landmark moment for pre-loved fashion,” added Rob Webster and Alexei Berwitz, Creative Directors at McCann London.

Continuing to boost the conversation, eBay UK’s new multi-channel campaign encourages shoppers to think pre-loved first and inspire a more conscious way of shopping. It will be delivered through a 360 multi-channel activation across TV, video on demand (VOD), social, digital and the Love Island app, with eBay branding and clothing showcased across each touchpoint.

The partnership was conceptualised by MediaCom (soon to be EssenceMediaCom) and ITV, and brought to life with a creative campaign led by DEPT, supported by McCann London and Weber Shandwick.

“eBay x Love Island is continuing to democratise pre-loved fashion, normalise the behaviour and show a mainstream audience the untapped potential,” commented Bel Moretti, Creative Director at DEPT. “Round two was brought to life in a truly integrated end-to-end campaign approach that suited our second screening audience; raising pioneering voices and conversations rooted in digital culture.”

Launching across ITV2 and ITV2+1, the co-branded TV ads will run during the series and continually across VOD on ITVX.

eBay’s social channels, executed by DEPT, will also be at the heart of the action, presenting the new Islanders unboxing items from their hand-picked pre-loved wardrobe, helping users find similar items from the show on eBay.

eBay UK is providing pre-loved clothing for Islanders and for the first time, a selection of authenticated sneakers and items from eBay’s Imperfects range.

Kirsty Keoghan, Global GM of Fashion at eBay said: “It’s great to partner with ITV on another series to show pre-loved isn’t just a trend, it’s here to stay and we are hopeful that we can inspire even more people to consider pre-loved first.”