Super Bowl LVI took place on Sunday when the Los Angeles Rams defeated the Cincinnati Bengals in front of a crowd filled with A-list celebrities in SoFi Arena in Los Angeles.
Year of the Crypto
As always leading up to the game, the curiosity and interest around the commercials was at its peak. While the Chinese Zodiac says 2022 is the year of the tiger, watching the game made it clear that this is the year of the crypto.
Unfortunately, I don’t think the concept of crypto was the selling point in focus. Instead, the commercials did everything in their power to instill a certain level of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out).
Let’s take a look at the top 5 crypto Super Bowl ads of 2022.
FTX
FTX spared no expense on its first Super Bowl advertisement, “Don’t Miss Out,” with legendary comedian Larry David.
David is the man behind TV-shows like Seinfeld and even more so Curb Your Enthusiasm. If you follow ‘Curb’ you know that he’s a funny, quirky character with very strong opinions.
Known for being stuck in the past, we could see Larry David dismissing several of humanity’s greatest inventions and opportunities. Passing up on the wheel, coffee, the US Declaration of Independence, going to the moon, electricity, the toilet and even portable music ends with him not believing in FTX and crypto either.
Aimed at Consumers and Regulators
The FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried mentioned in an interview with Washington Post that the commercial was not only aimed at consumers but also US regulators.
“We want to make sure that we’re painting, hopefully, a healthy image of ourselves and the industry. We’re optimistic that we’re going to be able to grow our U.S. business — a lot of that is working with U.S. regulators on bringing new products to market.”
Worth Watching Again and Again
I thought it was a fun commercial and from what I’ve seen it was considered the funniest Super Bowl commercial of many. Being a Larry David fan does of course help but it’s not often I can say that I actually want to see the ad again.
Did it Get the Message Across?
I think so. FTX really painted a good picture by comparing the crypto revolution to big historical movements that have changed our lives forever. Make it lighter by adding a ton of humor and voilá. Good job, FTX!
E*Trade
Ok, so E*Trade has been using babies in their ads for a long time. They continue to stick to their guns in an attempt to show how easy trading can be, blah blah blah.
Financial Advice From Memes
This time around, one of them is retired and lives on a ranch up in the mountains. After having been informed about the state of people’s finances and how we “take financial advice from memes”, the baby jumps into a helicopter and heads back to civilization.
Did it Get the Message Across?
Once again, CGI does the job graphics wise and I guess the commercial has its charm. However, I think the message was pretty vague and it didn’t make sense to me.
It could have something to do with the fact that I’m not up to date on E*Trade and the baby situation but the bottom line is that I didn’t like the ad at all. Maybe it’s just me but I’m not sure a lot of people could make sense out of it.
Crypto.Com
It doesn’t get much bigger than LeBron James and Matt Damon. Besides the $7 million price tag to air a 30 second commercial, paying for these two guys cannot be cheap.
Running two different commercials can help appeal to different demographics, which is a smart idea by Crypto.com.
Fortune Favors the Brave
The one with Matt Damon has him wandering the halls of a computerized museum. Just like Larry David, he refers to history and the importance of being brave. What he is trying to tell us is that investing in crypto is both groundbreaking and brave and therefore something you should not pass up on.
He leaves us with the message ‘Fortune favors the brave’ as he looks out at Planet Earth.
LeBron vs LeBron
LeBron James was a high school basketball phenom and went straight to the NBA after graduation without even taking one single class at University.
Call Your Own Shots
Telling his much younger self about what to expect from the future, LeBron gives the advice “ If you want to make history, you gotta call your own shots”. The commercial ends with “Fortune favors the brave” and the Crypto.com logo.
Did it Get the Message Across?
Not really, but with the two ads together and saying the same thing in two different ways, hopefully the audience understands. Just like FTX, Crypto.com focuses on the fact that cryptocurrency is the future and that you should jump on the crypto train now and be brave.
eToro
eToro focused on selling the concept of ‘Social Investing’ and being a community where millions share ideas, trade stocks, crypto and beyond.
Social Investing
The ad shows people typing in questions on their phones, getting answers and interacting with others.
I think eToro was trying to show you that you are not alone in this new world of cryptocurrency and that there is an easy way to get help to understand it.
Did it Get the Message Across?
It’s not a bad concept and I think it appealed to a lot of people that are new to the crypto world. They kept it simple and most people should be able to understand the message.
With that said, the commercial in itself wasn’t memorable in any way shape or form so there’s a big chance it wasn’t very effective.
Coinbase
When making a commercial, especially one for the Super Bowl, you want to make sure that you stick out from the crowd. This year, the ad that created the most buzz was Coinbase.
Screen Saver
Let me paint the picture of an old school screensaver where one single logo slowly bounces around on the screen. Instead of a logo, it was a QR code that changed color and offered free Bitcoin for customers who signed up.
To be more specific, scanning the code took you to a promo page that promised you $15 worth of Bitcoin for registering an account.
20 Million Hits on the Website
This thing was crazy effective and it was reported to get as many as 20 million hits on the website in 1 minute! As a matter of fact, there was so much traffic that the app temporarily crashed.
Crazy right? But wait, there’s more. On Monday morning, the day after the game, the Coinbase app was the second most downloaded iPhone app on the App store!
No Money Talks – Who Knew
Was it expensive? Not at all. In fact, it was probably one of the cheapest commercials ever made. No cameos, no expensive graphics or CGI.
Instead of dishing out a bunch of money on recognizable faces, Coinbase spent almost $14 million on a 60 second ad (double the 30 second prize). Yes, it’s a ridiculous price but it might still be cheaper than hiring LeBron James and Matt Damon.
Did it Get the Message Across?
Well, there’s no message per se but it definitely created an interest and engagement from the audience which led to the crashing of the app.
The most confusing and cheapest Super Bowl commercial of the year, seems to have been the most effective. That’s impressive!
Common Man Is None the Wiser Post Super Bowl
Did the ads make the concept of crypto clearer for the audience? No, is my simple answer. Sure, there were a lot of crypto commercials and in many ways blockchain’s big public debut. We saw Larry David being his fun self and LeBron talking to his young self and multiple CIG creations at its best.
Coinbase knocked it out of the park in terms of effectiveness with the most simple commercial imagined. Yet, none of the commercials managed to communicate what crypto technology will actually do for society and how it will improve things in people’s day-to-day lives.
However, with a price tag like this, I can understand the companies not wanting to spend it on explaining the entire concept and in many ways do the job for their competitors.
Did things become clearer for the people watching, I don’t think so. They may have become more aware of the companies involved but the knowledge of crypto remains the same.
List of Crypto Casinos
One last thing, if you are looking for a casino that will accept crypto, make sure to look at my list and reviews.
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