Auction Cause said it is using some interesting techniques to broaden the global appeal of its charity auctions on eBay. Eric Gazin, President of Auction Cause, said his is the first agency to recognize the value of multi-lingual auctions, including running what he called eBay's first "quad-lingual" auction.

"We just ran a cause marketing campaign for NIKE Brazil for the uber-popular Ronaldinho Gaucho, arguably the best soccer player in the world today," Gazin said. "With his fan base in Spain, Brazil, and Japan, we worked to have the auction landing page in Spanish, Portuguese, English, and Japanese. This strategy bore fruit, as we tracked three times the number of bidders from outside the U.S. for their auctions."

Gazin said Auction Cause is also using video embedded in the auctions. "With the NIKE Brazil campaign, we included a video showing Ronaldinho signing the various merchandise we were now auctioning on eBay. This proved to be a strong motivator for bidders to bid to supreme levels, far exceeding the final price expectations we all had." (Link to auction landing page: http://www.ebay.com/ronaldinhogaucho.)

For a musical keyboard signed by Peter Gabriel and listed on eBay to benefit the musician's WITNESS charity, Auction Cause used a YouTube video clip of the keyboard being played at the 1985 Grammy Awards. The item sold for $100,000.

Gazin said he embraces the global reach of eBay and reports that his agency managed the single largest charity auction campaign ever held on eBay for the NSPCC out of the United Kingdom in 2006, raising over $1.2 million for the children's charity.

"eBay's worldwide audience is growing faster than its U.S. audience, so we have strategically thought out what works best in being part of the global wave of bidders on eBay. It is truly about embracing new technology, trends, and understanding cultures, starting with speaking their language. At the end of the day, it is more than just selling an item on eBay. Our clients are global brands, and we have implemented campaigns that reflect the strengths of eBay's huge worldwide reach as well as our client's inclusive nature of culture, language, and technology," Gazin said.

http://www.auctioncause.com