PayPal’s Back to School campaign has won a 2007 Diamond Award for Best Marketing Practices in the world. Strobe Promotions and Swirl were instrumental in the creation and execution of the promotion on behalf of PayPal, the global leader in online payments.

The PayPal Back to School Promotion was the first fully integrated marketing campaign put forth by PayPal specifically for its merchants. The campaign utilized advertising, direct marketing, publicity and promotion resources to highlight offers, communicate brand messages and drive greater awareness and conversion among off-eBay PayPal merchants.

“PayPal carefully considered its merchants’ needs and delivered a program that offered a simple, safe and secure e-commerce experience for consumers,” said Steve Caputo, President of Strobe Promotions, PayPal’s promotion marketing agency. “We’re proud to have been a part of this successful campaign.”

“This was a truly outstanding campaign in the sense that its entry was by invitation only, the competition was global, and it was judged by an impartial jury against the best work of dozens of agencies worldwide,” said Amie Smith Hughes, awards chairman and managing editor of The Global Marketer.

Strobe Promotions was among 59 agencies from 20 countries that produced the 85 winning campaigns. The winners were honored at a special celebration earlier this year at The Rainbow Room in New York City. Other brands and companies who received Best-in-World honors include Court TV, Frito-Lay, General Mills, Gillette, Nokia, Pernod Ricard, Procter & Gamble, Sony Ericsson, General Motors, Unilever, Uni-President Foods, Wm. Wrigley & Sons, Yahoo! and Yotava Dairies.

Now in their second year, the Diamond Awards are produced by the editors of The Global Marketer, an Internet publisher of marketing case studies. Entries were organized by marketing discipline and product category, and judged by a panel of 17 client, agency and media executives voting over the Internet from seven countries.

“This year’s total number of entries was a tremendous increase over last year’s 75, and includes some of the most creative and sophisticated campaigns I’ve ever seen,” said Hughes.

“Some entries won multiple awards, and some agencies won in multiple categories.  The majority of campaigns entered had previously been honored for excellence in their own countries,” said Hughes. Diamonds participation is by invitation only, she explained, “Because we are looking for truly outstanding world-class campaigns.”