- Paze, the bank-backed online checkout solution from Early Warning Services, tapped Elizabeth Banks and Gabrielle Union for a national campaign titled "Paze. It Checks Out," a deliberate casting play on the fact that Paze is offered by participating banks and credit unions.
- The campaign, created with agency Big Spaceship, runs across connected TV, digital video, and social platforms, highlighting Paze's core security feature: consumers' actual card numbers are never shared with merchants during transactions.
- Paze now covers over 200 million eligible credit and debit cards in the U.S., with Citi recently joining the platform and new merchant additions including Domino's, Dunkin', and Wendy's.
Elizabeth Banks and Gabrielle Union are starring in a new national ad campaign for Paze, the online checkout solution backed by major U.S. banks and credit unions.
Launched on June 1, 2026, the “Paze. It Checks Out” campaign leans hard into the obvious: two actresses named Banks and Union promoting a wallet literally offered by banks and credit unions.
Created with digital agency Big Spaceship, the spots are playful, self-aware, and built around Paze’s main pitch: fast, secure checkout where your full card number is never shared with merchants.
This marks the first celebrity campaign for Paze, which is built on the same Early Warning Services infrastructure behind Zelle, now a $1.2 trillion person-to-person network.
For Union, the deal adds to a busy endorsement run. Earlier in 2026, she fronted Casamigos’ FIFA World Cup 2026 campaign alongside Keegan-Michael Key. She has also served as a global brand ambassador for Knix.
Banks, currently promoting her Peacock series The Miniature Wife, has been one of Hollywood’s busiest actress-producers, her production company Brownstone Productions has credits including Cocaine Bear and the Pitch Perfect franchise.
Paze’s previous marketing was low-key and brand-led. This is its first major celebrity activation, a sharp pivot mirroring moves from rivals, similar to how Will Ferrell’s PayPal Plus campaign used humor and star power to drive fintech awareness.
Takeaways
The casting here isn’t just a pun, it’s a positioning statement. Paze is betting that familiarity reduces friction, and pairing two A-listers whose names literally spell out its value proposition is about as efficient as brand storytelling gets.
This also signals that Paze is moving from a quiet rollout phase to a full consumer push, especially as it races to close the gap on Apple Pay and Google Wallet.
With 200 million eligible cards and Citi newly onboard, the infrastructure is ready, now it needs adoption, and celebrity-driven humor is a proven lever in fintech.
Can a clever casting gimmick translate into actual checkout adoption, or does consumer habit change require more than a laugh? Will this campaign push other fintech players to lean harder into entertainment-led advertising?
