With PayPal Ads officially launching in the UK, Henry gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the global rollout, key lessons from the U.S. debut, and what sets PayPal apart in the crowded commerce media landscape. From turning real transaction data into full-funnel strategies to helping brands unlock measurable growth, Henry shares how PayPal is using its unique position at the intersection of payments and media to redefine performance marketing.
If you’re curious about the future of personalized shopping experiences, ROI-driven advertising, and where PayPal fits into the next wave of commerce media—this one’s for you.
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You’re listening to the AW360 podcast, where we’re recording live from Advertising Week Europe 2025 here at 180 Studios in London. I’m joined today by Henry Stokes, Senior Director for Ads at PayPal UK. Henry, welcome.
Thank you. Great to be here. So I guess, you know, to start things off, tell us a bit about your role at PayPal UK. I’ve been at PayPal now for about five months, and we’ve been getting prepared to launch the ad business in the UK. PayPal is a very established business, but has never had an advertising proposition. We’re already live with our advertising proposition in the US, and the UK is to follow that. So we’ve been getting set up in the UK, and we are looking forward to launching our ad proposition in the UK in July of this year.
Excellent. Well, what made now the right time to expand, and what lessons from the US launch are shaping the rollout over here? In terms of the right time, I think there’s a big proliferation of retail media and now commerce media propositions entering the market. And in that sense, you know, I think, you know, we feel really well placed to be a commerce media powerhouse. You know, we’ve got 400 million global consumers, 30 million merchants that take that PayPal button. So, you know, we were covering 25% of all e-commerce transactions globally go through PayPal. We’re really well placed to start an ad business and build on that, you know, that user base and, I guess, bring our consumers products that they love and they want to buy and offer our merchants and advertisers the opportunity to talk to consumers who are in a shopping mindset and really help them make decisions throughout the entire funnel.
Excellent. Well, you know, the term personalized shopping experiences gets thrown out a lot, but your access at PayPal to purchase data is kind of a superpower. I mean, if there ever was a superpower in this industry, that would be one. How does that change the game for targeting and how personal is too personal in your mind?
What we’re going to create is a transaction graph, as we call it, the PayPal transaction graph. And that is going to allow us to deliver the right message with the right product to a consumer at the moment that we know that they are most receptive to that advertising. Now, that isn’t going to feel intrusive. That’s going to feel relevant. That is going to feel useful. And I think, as I say, we have a saying in PayPal, we work customer back. And we are very, very much building this product with privacy in mind and ensuring that we respect the consumer and the consent and the choices that they’ve given us to use their data for advertising. So I think, you know, genuinely, this product should help consumers shop in a much more savvy way. And, you know, I’ll justadd to that. I mean, one of the other superpowers of PayPal is not only using that data to target ads, but also providing the best offers to users at the time. So whether it’s a coupon or a cashback or a reward, we have that ability to give that value to a consumer and also offer them the smartest way to pay. So that could be, you know, buy now, that could be buy now, pay later or pay in free or using PayPal credit. So there’s a ton of value we can bring consumers.
Let’s talk insights for a bit. You know, you’re sitting on that goldmine of intent and transaction data. How are you turning that into smart and actionable ad strategies for brands, especially those trying to build full funnel campaigns in an ever increasingly crowded market? I think, you know, that idea of full funnel is interesting because what we can do is take that transaction data and that intelligence that we have and apply it to a range of ad opportunities across the web. And so whether that be a CTV ad on Hulu or whether that be a, you know, a display ad on a premium website, an ad just before you purchase with the right offer and the right way to pay. So that kind of full funnel experience, I think, is accessible to PayPal. What we need to do is apply the data to target those users in those moments.
Your point about sort of, you know, what else we can do. I think what we’re trying to also focus in on is the right and creative. And that is, you know, often will be a dynamic ad. So delivering exactly the right product to the user at the key time with the right call to action, the right price, but using technology to deliver that in a dynamic way. And then also providing a shoppable experience in the ad itself. So again, removing that friction from that purchase process, really making it easy for a user to act on a message from a brand.
You know, we all love a good ROI story. How is PayPal helping brands not just measure performance, but going beyond that and actually move the needle on things like market share and incremental growth? You said it. I think we have got used to retail and now commerce media players delivering that closed loop attribution, as we call it, that ability to understand whether the advertising you’re running is driving sales. We’re actually going to be focusing on, is that driving new sales? So people who are new to brand and also we’re going to be focusing on that element of market share. Again, because of the breadth of that transaction growth data that we have, we’re able to say to a brand exactly what their share is within a certain category. As they run ads, as they run their marketing, we’re able to show them how that market share is changing. And I think that view for a brand, you know, almost elevates the PayPal proposition from just being an ad proposition to being actually a really valuable business proposition that has relevance to CMOs, to CEOs, to investors. It really takes it up a notch.
You know, for my last question, I’m going to be a little forward thinking here, kind of a crystal ball question. What does the future look like to you? And how does PayPal see its role both as a payments leader and as an emerging media powerhouse? I think in terms of the future, you know, what we see is shoppers becoming more savvy and more empowered with the way that they buy and the offers that they want to take advantage of at the time of purchase. So I think we’re seeing an era of an empowered shopper coming to fruition that will be empowered by the offers they see and the ads they see in the market, but also by AI and AI shopping agents. And, you know, PayPal, I think that’s the direction where we are trying to augment those savvy shoppers, those empowered shoppers with the right intelligence and do that through an agent based solution. And I think that sort of paves the way for people to extract much more value from the market as a consumer, but also offers advertisers an incredible challenge and also opportunity to deliver that message and that advertising offer at that right moment.
It’s very interesting that you’re just now getting into this when it feels like this seems so obvious, you know, I mean, I use PayPal for literally, well, every possible online purchase I make. And I’ll be honest, I think there’s times when if it’s not available to me, I will go to another online retailer just because of the trust factor of the whole thing here.
If one wanted to find out more about PayPal ads, particularly your rolloutin the UK, where should they go and keep up on that? You know, PayPal ads is, as I say, open for business in July. If you want to find out more. Keep up on that. You know, PayPal ads is, as I say, open for business in July. If you want to find out more, you can contact me, which is hestokes at paypal.com or, you know, find me on LinkedIn and yeah, we can have a conversation.
Excellent. Well, Henry, thanks so much for taking the time to be on the show today. This is great.
All right. Thank you very much for having me.
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