Marketing Briefing: The ‘Crypto’ Bowl is around the corner
- Crypto companies have been flocking to the Super Bowl as a way to gain exposure and create trust with consumers. Binance has taken a different route.
- And in other news, Sara f'n McLachlan has an important message for you about abandoned carts.
Crypto exchanges are putting millions into securing Super Bowl ad spots – Binance took a different approach
This year, NBC sold all its Super Bowl commercial time, charging up to $7 million for 30 seconds – that’s a 27% increase compared to what it charged last year for that time slot. 45% of the advertisers in this year’s Super Bowl are new companies, including a fair share of crypto names.
FTX, CoinGecko, and Crypto.com are all crypto exchanges estimated to have poured millions into making sure their brand gets some screen time during the Super Bowl, arguably the largest advertising event of the year.
FTX and Crypto.com have especially been in the news of late, for purchasing large arena naming rights and partnering with some major pro athletes, including LeBron James and Tom Brady.
From the crypto exchanges’ perspectives, being featured during the Super Bowl – what’s currently being called the Crypto Bowl – could not only help get these companies’ names out but also maybe help them shed some of crypto’s reputation as an unsafe investment. The exposure could help them seem more like trustworthy, well-established brands.
Still, there are risks that come with bringing your brand’s name out through a Super Bowl ad.
John Antil, associate professor of marketing at the University of Delaware, who focuses specifically on the Super Bowl, told Fortune that even with all the exposure you get from the ad, there’s no real way to calculate ROI.
“It's very difficult to convert most factors gained from the broadcast to a dollar value," he said.
Now turning the page to Binance.
Binance is the largest crypto exchange in the world – its CEO Changpeng Zhao is now the wealthiest crypto billionaire, with a net worth of $73.4 billion – not including his crypto assets.
But even though Binance has the money to put into advertising during the Super Bowl, it’s taken a different route.
Instead of investing millions into securing a Super Bowl ad spot, the crypto exchange is seemingly going against the grain, by spreading the message not to believe everything you hear from celebrities, and instead do your own research.
“As crypto brands go head-to-head on Feb 13, some brands are recruiting big celebs to coax audiences to their sites without educating them on the fundamentals of crypto,” said Patrick Hillman, CCO of Binance. “Binance’s effort is focused on encouraging people to empower themselves with knowledge before getting into crypto.”
The twist, though, may be that Binance has itself enlisted celebrities to spread this "don’t listen to everything celebs tell you" message, including Colombian singer and rapper J Balvin, Miami Heats basketball player Jimmy Butler and professional mixed martial artist Valentina Shevchenko.
On February 7, for example, Jimmy Butler posted a 23-second video in which he says don’t trust everything you hear from celebrities.
“People always ask me what to do with their money. I can give you advice on a lot of things, your money isn’t one of them,” says Butler in the tweet.
‘We’ve got Sara f'n McLachlan’: Bolt’s new ad is all about abandoned carts
If you were flipping through channels in 2007, you may remember the PSA video from the American Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals – you know, the one that pulled in $30 million and made you cry at your back-then-not-so-flat television screen – 'save the puppies!!’
Well, ladies and gentlemen, Sarah McLachlan is back - and this time she’s focusing on the poor abandoned shopping cart.
The new McLachlan ad is for Bolt, the one-click checkout company. The spoof came about through a collaboration with Ryan Reynolds' Maximum Effort Advertising Agency.
The video focuses on McLachlan, looking at the camera much in the same way she did 15 years ago. But this time, instead of an adorable golden retriever by her side, there’s a shopping cart filled with unpurchased items.
“Your actions can help give a cart warmth and care,” says McLachlan in the video. “Ooh, that is a nice blender.”
What we’re reading
- Family fintech Greenlight releases a commercial focused on financial literacy together with actor Ty Burrell (Business Wire)
- FTX and Crypto.com are among the crypto companies expected to make an appearance at the Super Bowl (Decrypt)
- This Super Bowl will have quite the crypto flavor (CNN)
- How banks can shape up their marketing budget (Forbes)
- How small banks can use customer data to one up megabanks’ mega-marketing budgets (The Financial Brand)