The gauntlet was thrown during a catch-up with the eBay team. Paraphrased version of the conversation: eBay: “Our team kicks butt at netball”. Google: “Don’t be so sure. We challenge you to a game of netball. Only one team can be champion netballers.”
Note to reader: Google doesn’t actually have a netball team. eBay does. We were the underdogs from the beginning. After much trash-talking, the game was set for May 3.
The competitive bar was raised when a video from eBay arrived in our inboxes one unsuspecting morning, filled with interviews, game highlights and general firey "we are the champions"-type statements.
Was this intimidation? Was this a challenge? Whatever the reason, we couldn’t let them have all the fun! And so our Google netball video project was born. Each team enlisted the help of their office for various scare tactics and dodgy marketing campaigns to throw the other team off their game. Watch Google’s retaliation video and eBay’s final video below.
In the end, it came down to skills alone. Sadly for us, eBay were the team who had the required skills, winning 23 to 17.
The real winner of the day however was the Make-A-Wish Foundation, for whom we raised over $5,000 through donations from big-hearted Googlers and eBayers.
The newly formed Google netball team hasn’t taken this defeat lying down. We are preparing for the next netball challenge to take the trophy back to its rightful home. Bring it on, eBay!
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