Loyola’s Bateman Team is campaigning to introduce a new payment option for consumers in the city of New Orleans. The campaign, titled “Pay Easy in the Big Easy,” will run until Friday, Feb. 28.

The Popmoney® personal payment service is the client for the Public Relations Student Society of America National Bateman Competition. Loyola’s Bateman team will be participating in the competition against 80 to 100 other universities. Mass communication seniors Alden Woodhull, Shermicia Calice, Natalie Masone, Lindsey Rousselle and Ashley Ureta make up the Bateman team this year.

Popmoney is an app that enables users to send, receive or request money directly by using a phone number or email address, Woodhull, Bateman Team account executive, said.

Calice said the main goal for the campaign is to increase the number of Popmoney users.

“We really want people to download Popmoney, to actually use Popmoney,” Calice said.

The team created a challenge within the campaign called “NOLA Who You Pay” to encourage local purchases to become personal again.

“Because Popmoney is a personal payment service, it flourishes in the market atmosphere that we have in New Orleans,” Woodhull said. “You meet the artist whose product you are purchasing and you can use the service to pay them personally.”

Some of the first organizations to begin using Popmoney are Cajun Growers, NOLA Pie Guy, Krewe de Lune, Krewe of Chewbacchus and the American Heart Association.

Woodhull said the team decided to target artists, vendors and small entrepreneurs because the receiver gets 100 percent of the profit. The sender is charged a 95-cent transaction fee per purchase, she said.

Cathy Rogers, PRSSA adviser and Bateman Team adviser, said that one of the team’s challenges was to attract the most possible users.

“For this campaign, they have to evaluate how many people enroll in Popmoney and how many people make transactions,” Rogers said.

The group will evaluate those measures and include them in a book that will be submitted to the PRSSA Headquarters before March 28.

Announcements for the three finalists and honorable mentions will be announced after the books from all universities are reviewed, Woodhull said.

Lauren Cutuli can be reached at [email protected]