Hey, over here👋 Etsy presents its "other Jeffs" primed to appeal to seasonal summer shoppers
While several major retailers are once again competing with Amazon’s annual Prime Day summer shopping deals, one rival platform has found a clever way to attract attention for sellers on its marketplace during the annual midyear shopping bonanza.
Etsy ETSY 0.00%↑, whose platform is primarily used by independent artisans and crafters selling their creations, launched its “Shop from non-billionaire Jeffs” campaign to highlight sellers with the same name that alludes to a famous billionaire with a pretty clear connection to Amazon.
In a witty post featured on Instagram, and as a full-page newspaper ad, Etsy said:
“There are over five thousand independent sellers on Etsy named Jeff. Real people, making real things, who deserve to be discovered. So get to know the Jeffs on Etsy, along with millions of other sellers making original pieces just for you.”
There’s no mention of discounts, or grabbing the most-wanted viral products. Instead, Etsy seems to be appealing especially to younger consumers’ desire to make purchases that showcase originality, and are more meaningful and sustainably-produced rather than the cheapest priced.
Etsy highlighted three “Jeffs” in the campaign. Among them, Jeff Brown, designer & owner of Jeff Brown Pottery who has been making handmade pottery since 1977. Based in North Carolina, Brown and his partner, Michele Hastings, craft functional ceramics designed to bring beauty and artistry to everyday life.
There’s Jeff Zabriskie, founder of Luxgen, a family-owned woodworking studio in Tahoe Vista, California. Zabriskie learned the craft alongside his father, and creates handcrafted solid wood furniture and home décor using sustainably-sourced hardwoods and reclaimed urban trees.
“I personally touch every single product that comes out of here. I wrap every single piece that goes out. I make sure that every single piece is absolutely perfect,” said Zabriskie. “It takes me about a full day to make a set of two or three shelves. We put a ton of care and love into them. If I don’t like the littlest thing about a piece, I lose my mind. It’s a perfectionist thing. But, it’s something I care about deeply.”
Another “Jeff” is Jeff Risinger, co-founder of BootsNGus, a handmade lighting studio based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Risinger turned a hobby into a full-time business creating distinctive lighting fixtures for homes and businesses.
“My process started with thrifting—finding an object and turning it into a light fixture that can be useful for somebody. To me that’s amazing,” said Risinger. “People buy stuff just to buy stuff. But, you know, when you can have a unique one-of-a-kind item that nobody else has, why not?”
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Etsy’s campaign concludes with the message - “These Jeffs are makers, not moguls. Craftspeople who put a little bit of themselves into every piece they make.”
“Consumers increasingly want their purchases to mean something by reflecting their values, their taste and the people they want to support,” Etsy’s chief marketing officer, by Brad Minor, said in a blog post earlier this month. “And yet, convenience has become the loudest voice in the room, making it hard to hear much else over it. When the conversation is dominated by speed and price, we’re reminding shoppers that there is an alternative.”
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