ON TUESDAY, AMAZON held their annual manic sales event that is Prime Day – and they saw a record amount of business done, evensurpassing the more traditionally popular Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.
Other online retailers were, of course, aware of this Amazon sale – so they prepared their own ads to try to combat it.
eBay was one of them, and their “anti-Prime” ad was rolled out on YouTube on Monday.
Brilliantly, and bizarrely, it’s based around an iconic Irish TV moment: when RTÉ newsreader Aengus Mac Grianna didn’t realise he was on air
Nearly 400,000 views later, it’s safe to say that Americans are now very aware of the classic clip that’s become a mainstay of Irish YouTube round-ups. The eBay ad was part of a campaign that ran across US telly this week – with Aengus’s premiering on Monday night.
And they actually work it into the ad really well, with the voiceover starting:
“You thought you got a Prime Deal… but did you check eBay?”
Quickly followed by Aengus Mac Grianna exclaiming:
“WHAT?”
RTÉ told DailyEdge.ie how it came about, and it turns out Aengus is well aware:
The footage was commercially licensed from RTÉ by an advertising company working for eBay. Both RTÉ and Aengus MacGrianna are aware of the ad, which is part of campaign running in North America.
Finally, the world is getting to experience the joy of Aengus Mac Grianna’s viral moment.
hat tip TodayFM
