Dive Brief:

• Peer-to-peer payment service Venmo is running its first national TV campaign with a 30-second spot featuring actual ponies as a reminder for people to “pony up” when splitting checks through the service. In the spot, three people are sitting on tiny ponies while haggling over how to split a happy hour bill. 
• The campaign is geared toward millennials, according to Ad Age, and comes as competition in the payments space heats up. There will be several versions of the 30-spot that will run on MTV and Comedy Central in both 30- and 15- second versions, while a 60-second version will run on Venmo’s social media channels. A sponsored Snapchat filter is also part of the campaign.
• "This is our opportunity to drive awareness and to showcase our personality," Leyden told Ad Age. "It came together in a really clear way as a rallying cry against those awkward moments of having to ask someone to pay you back."

Dive Insight:

Quirky and fun ad campaigns aren’t for every brand, but they are becoming increasingly popular and often work well with younger demographics. The offbeat ad campaign should help Venmo become more memorable with its target consumer.

The campaign comes amid increased competition in the mobile payments space. Payments competitor PayPal ran its first Super Bowl ad earlier this year, positioning itself as an always-open, all-inclusive “new money” service that helps reach people reach beyond traditional banking.

The battle over the mobile consumer for control of their payments is just beginning: Venmo and PayPal are both fending off the big banks, which recently announced their intent to launch their own mobile payments service called Zelle. The campaign should help increase brand awareness for Venmo in anticipation of a major push from the banks.