The race is on to grow market share for buy now, pay later brands—financial companies that offer consumers the option of spacing out payments for goods over time, rather than paying the entire amount up front.
Earlier this year, Swedish brand Klarna shelled out big bucks for a Super Bowl spot with celebrity Maya Rudolph. In recent months, established players like PayPal and American Express have expanded their own versions of periodic payment choices. Now, Afterpay, an Australian company with the good fortune of having a name that doubles as a verb for the category, is making its marketing move.
The 7-year-old company will debut “Pay Better,” a campaign starring Rebel Wilson, at the Billboard Music Awards on Sunday. Afterpay, which recently announced it will be a presenting sponsor at IMG New York Fashion Week, says the multimillion-dollar campaign is its biggest global advertising effort to date.
Geoff Seeley, a former Airbnb marketer who now serves as global chief marketing officer at Afterpay, says that while his brand is well-known in its native Australia, there is still work to do in the U.S. from an awareness standpoint.
“In some of the newer markets, buy now, pay later is a relatively new concept,” he says, noting that in North America, Afterpay’s data suggests that the majority of consumers are not aware of the option or don’t think it is something for them. “This work is all about investing in the growth of our customer base by ensuring people understand what it is we offer, why it’s unique not only in finance broadly but even amongst the competitive set.”