All businesses and brands have competitors. That is a no brainer. However, when we see large company throw punches at a competitor, that is when the fun begins. Earlier this month, Paypal took out a full-page ad in The New York Times and released a new commercial that threw shade against their competitor, Apple Pay.
The New York Times ad
In The New York Times, the full-page ad copy read, “We the people want our money safer than our selfies.”
This referenced the recent iCloud hack that stole naked photos of celebrities. Even though this could make some of those hacked celebrities feel uneasy, it definitely strikes an emotional chord. That is what I believe makes a strong, creative ad.
Beyond their print ad and commercial, they have taken this new campaign to the social media world. They posted the same ad on their Twitter account. See below for the PayPal ad:
Let's enjoy our money, not worry about it. #paypalit for a safer and more secure way to pay: http://t.co/DFAH3bqniS. pic.twitter.com/e5udR8zGBJ
— PayPal (@PayPal) September 15, 2014
This new campaign was released after Apple’s large summit last week. Apple showed off the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. They also released an over priced Apple Watch. The new phones have NFC, which is the ability to connect wirelessly to other systems that have the same chip. This will allow mobile payments through the new Apple Pay service.
Paypal Voices commercial
“We The People” campaign is a portion of the larger PayPal campaign that was launched earlier this year. It will run through 2015 and has a tagline that says, “People Rule.” This was the first time that the pay portal giant has enlisted people to be the face of their advertising efforts. Christina Smedley, vp of global brand and communications, at PayPal said that,
“One of the things we’re trying to address and enable people to understand is all the things that PayPal can do for you.”
They want to explain to Paypal users, and potential users, that the company offers more like in-person payments and integrated credit card points.
My two cents
I am a huge fan of this campaign so far. I am not ashamed to say that I love seeing the battles of competitors through advertising. The fact they used a situation that did occur, and was incredibly shameful to many people, hit that emotional point. In the media, we heard mostly about the celebrities’ photos that were hacked.
However, how many everyday people were in that batch too? I am excited to see where Paypal will continue to carry on this kick-ass campaign.
