Overstock goes for a big, national ad campaign

Trying to make itself a household name, Overstock.com Inc. is undertaking a nationwide, multi-million-dollar advertising campaign. Until now, Overstock has relied totally on pay-for-performance Internet marketing and word-of-mouth. Overstock has grown to over $100 million in revenue with that strategy.

The advertising is additional to the online advertising it does already, a spokesman says. The campaign will feature the varied and changing selection of Overstock’s merchandise with its deep discounts and will tout the fact that it also sells books at 25% below Amazon’s pricing.

Overstock will seek to brand itself as The Big O, with a woman in the ad asking, "Have you discovered the secret of The Big O?" The campaign will feature national radio and TV spots. The company says it is not making additional investments in technology or fulfillment operations, which it feels are scaled up already to handle increased demand that the campaign is expected to create.

Overstock created the campaign internally and is handling all the media buys internally.