Most people would turn to traditional websites like Craigslist to sell their used car, especially if that car was a 1996 Honda Accord. Max Lanman, however, is not ‘most people.’
The Honda Accord, called “Greenie,” belonged to Max’s girlfriend — it was being sold with 141,095 miles at a starting bid on eBay of only $499. Instead of creating a normal online ad to sell the car, Max made a full-blown commercial. A commercial that has since been viewed almost 6 million times.
“The idea came to me when I was driving the very stretch of highway that you see in the commercial,” Max told CNBC.
The minute-long video was shot entirely by Max; he even had someone create a musical score for the commercial as well. What resulted was a video that would soon take a life of its own and spread across the internet like crazy.
It took Max and his friend 200 hours to complete the commercial, but it was totally worth it. It’s absolutely hilarious.
A silky-smooth voice (Max’s neighbor) narrates the commercial, as in most traditional ads. The compact car is described as “one-of-a-kind,” and a vehicle that is for “people who have life figured out, but just need a way to get somewhere.”
The fine print at the end of the advertisement reads that while the adorable cat, Papa Puff Pants, and the coffee pot are not included in the sale of the car, eBay bidders get 0% APR financing. Well — eBay bidders went bananas.
Max and his girlfriend, now fiancee, Carrie Hollenbeck, were stunned when they saw that bids for “Greenie” had surpassed $150,000 in bids.
eBay is monitoring the bids to make sure to eliminate any outrageous, fraudulent bids; which sadly, were most of them after the video gained in popularity.
“It started to take on a life of its own,” Max told CNBC. “eBay called us to reassure us that, you know, they were monitoring it, they were aware of the story, they loved the video and they were actually removing fraudulent bids. So, we were in this sort of weird state where previously we were thinking, ‘There’s no way this is going to be real,’ and then thinking, ‘Wait, is this real?’”
If the couple does end up getting a bit that exceeds their expectations, they plan to put the money to good use.
“That would be truly life-changing,” he says. “In addition to having a wedding, as you know, building up that seed fund to put a down payment on a house is next to impossible.”
Max Lanman is the founder of a creative agency in Los Angeles called LEÃO, so it’s no wonder his genius shines through in the hilarious video below.
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