Dive Brief:
- PayPal has teamed with actor Will Ferrell for the digital payment system’s largest-ever U.S. advertising campaign in terms of spend and scale, per details shared with Marketing Dive.
- Key to the effort is an ad meant to showcase how easy and safe it is to shop with PayPal and its Debit Mastercard. Set to a reimagined version of Fleetwood Mac’s “Everywhere,” Ferrell is seen singing the tune while using PayPal to shop in a variety of comedic scenarios.
- Rounding out the effort are a new visual look and creative spanning out-of-home, digital media, streaming and radio, podcast reads, influencer tie-ups and social media. The ad launched nationally on Sept. 9 and will air through the end of the year.
Dive Insight:
PayPal has launched its biggest U.S. campaign to-date alongside Ferrell, leveraging the actor’s comedic flare to showcase the ease in which the payment platform can be used. A focus on simplicity could be key as convenient payment services like buy now, pay later and Apple Pay grow in popularity. The effort is also meant to drive home the idea that PayPal is more rewarding than ever, according to Geoff Seeley, the company’s CMO.
“This points to the exciting direction we're heading in as we continue to evolve PayPal into an easy, safe, and rewarding way to shop everywhere,” Seeley said in a statement.
Key to the campaign is a 60-second ad that kicks off with Ferrell asking a shopper if they just paid using PayPal, to which she confirms and adds that the service can be used in-store and that the cash back is “wild.” The star then begins to sing a reimagined version of the song “Everywhere,” this time with the refrain, “I want to pay with you everywhere,” before leveraging the service in a variety of scenarios, including at a “shady lemonade stand.”
The ad debuted nationally during the New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers NFL game and will run through the remainder of the year. The ad is an extension of an announcement from PayPal last week around an expanded rewards program and in-store capabilities and is one element of a campaign that will run across channels including OOH, streaming and radio, a social media takeover and more.
Benefits that will be highlighted in the campaign include the company’s 5% cash back rewards program when using the PayPal Debit Mastercard, the convenience of adding the card to mobile wallets, including Apple Wallet, for tap-to-pay in stores and stackable PayPal checkout rewards in the PayPal app. Alongside the campaign, the brand will also debut a “bold” new visual identity, seeing it join a number of other brands this year who have sought a refreshed look.
Beyond its latest campaign, PayPal has sought to widen its revenue stream in other ways, including with its announcement in May that the company plans to create a new advertising platform rooted in transactional data generated by its nearly 400 million active accounts. The company at the start of this year reportedly had plans to to cut about 9% of its workforce.
