One of the most satisfying experiences at Prosper has been working on our recent initiative to tell the personal stories of lenders and borrowers in the Prosper community. When I recently met several Prosper members in person, listening to their stories of how peer-to-peer lending fit into their lives, I was truly struck by their sincere enthusiasm for Prosper.

It has been one of those welcome rare occasions when as a marketer, we get to witness the fulfillment of a brand promise in such a personal way. 

It’s been both challenging and fun to tell the story of personal lending to the greater marketplace. Agencies lobbied hard for us to use seasoned talent and scripted messaging to address such a new concept, but we stuck to our instincts and couldn’t be happier with the results. We believed that the real story of people-to-people lending is about bringing real people together.

So that’s just what we did. We brought our lenders and borrowers together and asked them to share their experience of peer-to-peer lending on Prosper. Their stories are available online today and we’ll be airing TV spots in test markets starting this week.

We talked to many borrowers who regaled us with both delightful and heartfelt stories. And indeed, fashion designer Lara Miller’s story about how her Prosper loan helped keep her small business operating and her life’s dream alive is a wonderful example of how Prosper can change people’s lives.

We were also delighted by lenders who time and again told us about how they sincerely valued the opportunity to not only earn great returns, but to help others through peer-to-peer lending. Bob, a Prosper lender, we met in Florida nicely expressed the sentiment we heard often when he said he likes being “the source of good things that help people accomplish their dreams”.

A special thanks to all the Prosper members who let us document and share their stories. If you’re a Prosper member and would like to share your online investing or borrowing experience with us, visit Prosper Stories and let us know.

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Catherine Muriel is the Chief Marketing Officer of Prosper.