Behind the scenes at Gumtree’s upcoming campaign

“The idea is still behind success and we’ve told a series of successful stories, of buyers and sellers coming together. This year we’ve featured some of our most popular items like a sofa, a bike, a wardrobe, a car, a scooter etc. All things that are really popular on our site and stand for what we do.”

The ad being shot that day followed the narrative of a middle-aged man buying a slick sports car, revving the engine eagerly before shaking the hand of the seller. Simple, yes, but Diamond explains that this is what the theme is centred around.

“Happy buyers and happy sellers, that’s what the ‘Success!’ narrative is all about,” he said. “For each of them we want viewers to look at them and feel like ‘ah Gumtree is for people like me’.”

Indeed, for the seven 10-second vignettes there are people of different ages and origins and the relatively unremarkable location was specifically chosen for appearing like it could be anywhere in the UK.

“All of that is so people feel comfortable about the fact that it’s just people coming together and there’s fantastic bargains to be had on the site and a deal in your neighbourhood,” said Diamond.

Aside from the inclement weather, and occasionally over excitable actor, the day ran smoothly which is surprising given it was shot in a fairly busy street. Commenting on keeping the neighbours on side, Diamond joked: “You have or it’s bad for your reputation. You don’t want them going to the local papers about how Gumtree parked on my lawn or knocked over my bin. Particularly in, dare I say it, boring suburban areas like this. It might be the most exciting thing to happen.”And somewhat more practically, he said, “you also need one of them to open their door and let you use their loo.” In addition to the shorter spots, one 30-second ad is set to show all of the Gumtree categories. Although he declined to comment on the total spend, Diamond revealed that TV is where the majority of the marketing budget has gone. “It’s the best way for us to get huge reach and awareness. Our message doesn’t need to be regional, it’s for everyone in the UK and TV allows us to get that broad reach,” he explained. “We’ll also spend money on YouTube TrueView [the pre-roll ad service] as that’s worked really worked really well for us [in the past].” Radio is also in the marketing mix with 10 or 11 ads, similarly based on the theme of success, due to be rolled out in the major UK regions Gumtree is trying to increase awareness. After hours of filming and countless takes, here's an exclusive look at the ad.