PayPal is making its biggest marketing splash ever with some help from Will Ferrell.

The comedian stars in a new 60-second ad that depicts him discovering how PayPal’s new debit card with cashback rewards can be added to digital wallets for tap-to-pay purchases. Ferrell uses the feature at locations ranging from a clothing boutique to a coffee shop to a “shady” lemonade stand while belting out his rendition of Fleetwood Mac’s “Everywhere.”

The commercial debuts on TV tonight during “Monday Night Football” on ABC and ESPN.

In the following weeks, PayPal will roll out the rest of the campaign across out-of-home, digital and social media, streaming and radio, podcasts and influencers. 

On Thursday, PayPal teased the spot on social media, making its TikTok debut. It also removed other posts from Instagram to draw attention to the ad and reintroduce the brand to followers.

PayPal worked with a slew of agencies on the campaign, including BBH on creative, R/GA on digital and a rebuilding of its customer relationship management system, Pentagram on new colors and typography for its website, GroupM on media, Arts & Sciences on talent partnerships, Razorfish on social and Edelman on PR.

The campaign is PayPal’s largest to date in the U.S., both in scope and spend, said Geoff Seeley, chief marketing officer. He declined to disclose the campaign’s budget, but said PayPal’s new leadership is fervent about upper funnel marketing. 

“Interbrand has us as the 40th most valuable brand in the world,” he said. “There’s an investment level required to represent the stature of the brand that we are … we believe in marketing now and we believe marketing will unlock incremental growth.”

PayPal spent an estimated $49 million on U.S. measured media in the first half of 2024 compared to the $60 million it spent in the entirety of 2023, according to Vivvix, including paid social data from Pathmatics.

At the same time, PayPal-owned Venmo, which Seeley also oversees, is launching a campaign to get consumers up to speed on the services it offers. “What’s Your Venmo?” rolls out soon with a series of ads that highlight services like the Venmo debit card and Pay with Venmo, which both grew in monthly active users by about 30%, according to PayPal’s second-quarter report. (PayPal’s second-quarter revenue rose 8% to $7.9 billion.)

The campaign’s media mix includes streaming platforms, digital video, audio, social media, influencers and out-of-home in Los Angeles, New York and Dallas. It will be the first campaign Venmo and 72andSunny partnered on. GroupM handled media.

Recent leadership moves

Seeley joined PayPal as CMO in February, taking over for Leanne Sheraton as she announced she was taking a career break. Last year, PayPal underwent a significant leadership overhaul, including hiring former Verizon CMO Diego Scotti in November as executive VP and general manager for a newly formed consumer group and global marketing and communications unit. 

Former Intuit executive Alex Chriss was hired as president and CEO in September 2023 quickly followed by Rachel Kobetz joining as the first chief design officer, Isabel Cruz as chief people officer, Jamie Miller as chief financial officer and Michelle Gill as general manager of a newly formed small business and financial services group.

In November, PayPal hired GroupM as its global media agency of record. Media had previously largely been handled by Havas Media.

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Marketing will be a core part of PayPal’s efforts to reverse course in light of an 80% fall in stock value from its all-time high in July 2021, when the pandemic made the online payments business very lucrative.

More than 60% of PayPal’s $14 billion in gross profits come from its checkout button, according to Autonomous Research data cited in a Forbes report. The campaign starring Ferrell is meant to draw attention to the lesser-known ways consumers can use its services while shopping in person.

Given the new services PayPal has rolled out since its last big marketing push, like the cash-back debit card, Seeley stated it was important to go big with its return.

“How do we put this brand back on the map?” he said. “That leads towards solutions that are equitable with that ambition, which brings you to people like Will [Ferrell].”