Etsy debuted a new TV commercial, and the company is sticking with its marketing message that Etsy is a destination for shopping for gifts. The ad is titled, “Don’t Celebrate Birthdays” and features the tagline, “Gifts that say, I get you.”
There are two versions of the same ad showing guests at a birthday party for a fictional “Julia,” with the only difference being the audio:
Version 1 voiceover:
Birthdays. We’re good at remembering them, but we’re not always great at celebrating them.
So don’t JUST celebrate birthdays. Celebrate Julia, and how much she loves snacks.
Or her elegant style.
Celebrate the home she gave Alfie!
Gifts that say I get you.
Etsy
Version 2 voiceover:
Happy birthday, again. Here’s a cake and some friends.
But what if we actually celebrate Julia, and how much she loves
snacks,
or her elegant style,
and the home she gave Alfie,
with gifts from Etsy.
Gifts that say, I get you.
Etsy
Etsy launched a feature called Gift Mode in 2024 to coincide with its marketing strategy of painting its marketplace as a gifting destination, running an ad during last year’s Super Bowl. Etsy explained its Gift Mode was “an interactive hub for gifting that combines AI and human curation to help shoppers find the perfect present,” that it had launched in January.
Little Black Book said Etsy was running the new commercial across TV and social media channels and cited the following statistic: “There are four searches for birthday items on Etsy every second.”
Little Black Book said the campaign was part of a continued investment to make Etsy synonymous with gifting, “not just for seasonal retail moments, but also for everyday gifting occasions, which make up half of all gift purchases on Etsy.”
Etsy might have chosen to promote its paid membership program called Etsy Insider in its latest TV commercial, but last month, CEO Josh Silverman told Wall Street the program was still in closed beta mode. He said members appeared to value the free-shipping benefit, and Insider could lead loyal customers to come back to Etsy more frequently without the company having to invest marketing dollars to reengage them.
Take a look at the following Etsy commercial posted on YouTube, and let us know what you think – and what kind of marketing do you think would best drive shoppers to Etsy?