We spent a day ‘action-planning’ to think of times, places and occasions we could leverage the concept of safety. This led ultimately to dozens of different executions, ranging from wrapping concrete pillars in train stations in foam, to covering spikes in protectors, to having warning signs around steep stairs, etc. We set up a tactical response crew - ‘the Pals’ - to find unexpected opportunities to make the life of our consumers safer. On May Day, an occasion of violent demonstration in Germany every year, we distributed foam-stones that called for nonviolence and safety in hotspots of two major German cities. And when soccer player Paolo Guerrero threw a bottle at a fan - a huge scandal that not only rocked the German soccer world, but became the talk of the country - our team seized the opportunity and the next game, there were PayPal ‘saferererer’ foam-coated bottles all over the stadium.

The campaign was a huge success. Now every second online shopper uses PayPal.

Dedicated research proved that - only after one month - we achieved an unaided brand awareness for PayPal of +10%, comprehension and connection with the topic safety of +24%, and the perception of PayPal as a safe online payment service of +42%. And most importantly, the campaign managed to turn some of those people, who were previously skeptical about safety, into converts!