PayPal releases a sentimental holiday spot as it rides the e-commerce wave

More consumers will be shopping digitally this holiday season, and PayPal will be ready for them. The payment platform recently began airing a spot that showcases how the brand can mesh with the new needs of shoppers as they continue to weather the changes brought on by the pandemic. In the 60-second commercial, a dad uses PayPal to purchase all the things he needs to bring the famous Nutcracker ballet, a Christmas classic, to his dance-loving daughter at home. Online, he purchases lights, a movie-size screen and the Prince’s costume for himself to host a surprise backyard performance. “However you celebrate, make it one to remember,” text reads on the video. “In such an unprecedented year, we knew the holidays would look a little different, and people will celebrate traditions in new ways and in some cases be virtually together,” says Jill Cress, VP of consumer marketing at PayPal. “We wanted our campaign to celebrate the real stories of real families whose inventiveness will undoubtedly make this holiday season one to remember.” As virus cases continue to rise across the country, and new lockdowns begin to combat second waves in cities including Chicago and New York, marketers are challenged with producing noteworthy campaigns that showcase holiday spirit in safe and socially distanced ways. While some brands have chosen to include the same holiday gatherings and parties of previous years in their holiday spots, others have highlighted the holiday hardships consumers continue to face. Etsy recently aired a spot that shows grandparents unable to be with family. In Kohl’s spot, a young girl befriends an elderly woman via their neighboring windows. PayPal’s campaign bears a striking similarity to another company that has seen sales rise due to the shift to online spending: Amazon. The Seattle-based ecommerce giant recently unveiled a holiday spot that shows a teenage dancer whose prima ballerina dreams are nearly crushed by the coronavirus before her friends and family rise to the occasion to make the show go on. The rise of e-commerce brought on by the pandemic has been a boon to PayPal’s business. For its most recent quarter, the company reported a 25% rise in revenue to $5.5 billion, and executives noted an expansion of PayPal’s peer-to-peer payment platform Venmo. Cress notes that a study PayPal recently conducted with PYMNTS.com found that 40% of consumers have shifted from shopping in stores to shopping online this year. PayPal has found an increase in digital purchases on categories including beauty, personal care, clothing and jewelry. PayPal worked with Tongal, the platform for content creators, on the global holiday push. The spot, called “Make It One to Remember,” was directed by Kelsey Taylor, who used Tongal’s resources to rally 47 creators in seven countries to create the campaign. The work will air digitally in the U.S., Canada and parts of Europe and be broadcast on NBCUniversal channels in the U.S.

PayPal releases a sentimental holiday spot as it rides the e-commerce wave

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