SAN JOSE, CA — PayPal is looking for a PR agency to lead global product, as well as US communications as it looks to position itself as the leader in "transformation of the financial system." 

The incumbent, MSLGroup, will keep working with PayPal in Latin America and Canada and has been invited to the pitch underway, a PayPal spokesperson confirmed. PayPal, which split from parent company eBay last year, underwent changes in its corporate communications team last year when VP of global communications Christina Smedley left to take a senior post at Facebook. The global communications function now reports to Franz Paasche, PayPal’s vice president of corporate affairs and communications.


"As we showed in our ‘New Money’ global brand campaign that launched at this year’s Super Bowl, we’re entering the greatest period of transformation in the history of the financial system," said Anuj Nayar, PayPal's global head of product communications. "As we embark on this mission, we have decided to reevaluate our agency relationships for product communications."

He added, they expect to hear from "a variety of agencies to further partner with us as we lead a transformation in the financial industry and highlight the ways that PayPal technology reimagines money so it can serve all of us. We expect to have our selection made by early April.”

The global product RFP (which includes the US) includes other PayPal brands: Venmo, Braintree, Paydiant and Xoom. The US remit is deemed "non-product and non-corporate communications" or as explained by a PayPal spokesperson "think campaigns that support our go to market strategy for merchants and consumers for example."

Last summer, PayPal has consolidated international PR duties covering EMEA and Asia-Pacific to Edelman.