Gumtree Bins Mascots and Seedy Salesmen in 'Good Finds' Campaign from W+K London

Gumtree, the online re-commerce and classifieds platform, has revealed its refreshed brand platform Good Finds and new comedic creative work, with the launch of its ‘Good Finds’ campaign, developed with newly-appointed agency of record Wieden+Kennedy London. 

Gumtree has been making ‘good finds’ happen for 20 years. For some that’s a car, for others a flatmate, a new sofa, job or teammate. The new brand platform champions this role as a connector and celebrates everything that people know and love about Gumtree, from the breadth of items which people sell through the site to the, often accidental, humour of the adverts posted - complete with wonky photos, typos and clumsy thumbs masking the product.

Good Finds launches across TV, VOD, YouTube and social. The tongue-in-cheek TV spots will play on classic sales tropes, such as game shows, mascots, shopping channels and seductive firesides, to show how the Good Finds on Gumtree stand on their own.

The first of six ‘Good Finds’ TVCs playing on these well-established clichés, entitled ‘Good Finds, No Sexy Hairy Man’ launched with primetime spots on ITV, Channel 5 and Sky One (amongst others). Gumtree has started to roll out its take on a further five tropes, up next are ‘ Good Finds, No Fanfare’, ‘Good Finds, No Salespeople.’ and ‘Good Finds, No Frills’, with all TVCs released over the next two weeks and the creative due to run for the rest of 2021. The TV spots were directed by Jim Hosking and produced by The Sweet Shop, with MediaCom managing the media buy.

Hannah Rouch, chief marketing officer, Gumtree UK commented: “For over 20 years Gumtree has been connecting people to help them find what they need when they need it, and this is as important and relevant today as it’s ever been. However, as a brand we’ve shied away from talking about the realities of our platform, the good and the not so good. So with our new Good Finds brand positioning we will be tackling these head on, and bringing to life the buzz that you get from making a Good Find on Gumtree and embracing how many people use our site. A good find is a good find, even if the picture is upside down!

“We’re proud of the fact that you can buy and sell through our site, without the hard sell or mark-ups to cover the cost of expensive gimmicks. We're here to help connect people together - it’s something that we’ve made easy and simple for our users and the refreshed brand position and the fun of our new creative really celebrates that.”

Creative directors Philippa Beaumont and Freddy Taylor from W+K London, added: “It’s great when you get to work with a brand that embraces who they are. Gumtree isn’t perfect but it is full of ‘Good Finds’ and that’s that. No bells and whistles, no unnecessary guff and no frills. But they don’t need it, they are and always have been about making ‘Good Finds’ happen, in their own special way, blurry photos, basic descriptions and a few thumbs obscuring the lens.

“We took the personality and intentional simplicity of Gumtree and injected it into some rather funny and slightly odd TV spots, that show you don’t need hard sells or fanfare when you’re full of ‘Good Finds’.”

Founded in 2000, Gumtree is one of the largest classifieds sites in the UK, used by one in four adults every month*. It has grown from a website created to help London’s expats settle into a new city to a vibrant buying and selling community which thrives on the circular economy. As well as its “For Sale” consumer trading, the platform also allows users to discover jobs, motors, property, small businesses, services and community groups in their local area - connecting people around a life stage, a need, a pastime, passion or interest, from new parents trading buggies and nursery equipment, to bike enthusiasts fuelling their passion.

Communicating the value and relevance of the platform to a younger, more climate-conscious audience, underpins the launch of the creative campaign. Gumtree has been working with W+K since the start of the year to help it articulate its purpose, in particular helping it to cut through to this mobile-first and digital savvy audience in the competitive space of online re-commerce.

Hannah Rouch continued: “We were already seeing a shift in behaviour towards more conscious-consumerism, but financial pressures coupled with a greater awareness of environmental impact, means that re-commerce and second-hand are becoming first-choice for many people, especially for younger Millennials and Gen Z.

“There is a real opportunity now for Gumtree to tap into these social trends and produce great, honest and fun creative work that gets to the heart of why people love to use Gumtree. We’re looking forward to working with the brilliant team at Wieden+Kennedy to continue to bring this potential to life.”