Key takeaways:
- Coinbase made its Super Bowl debut on Sunday and launched an exclusive $100 million Bitcoin giveaway for new users
- The surge in users visiting the Coinbase app during the NFL finals momentarily crashed the site
- Sam Bankman Fried’s FTX also made its Super Bowl debut on Sunday, headlined by Larry David’s stellar performance in the minute-long commercial
An influx of new users crashes Coinbase
The Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange certainly took a big gamble with its first Super Bowl commercial. While most companies advertising during the most expensive ad slot of the year hire celebrities and sink millions of dollars into high-level production, Coinbase opted for a radically different approach.
The 60-second long ad featured nothing but a flashing QR code bouncing off the corners of a flat-screen TV, reminiscent of the “DVD Videos” logo that moves across the screen, prompting users to insert a disc in the video player.
The minimalist approach of the ad apparently sparked immense curiosity among the viewers during the halftime show of the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams NFL finals. Coinbase started trending on Twitter almost immediately after the ad aired. The surge of users scanning the QR code led to the Coinbase app crashing shortly after. Luckily, the team was quick to patch the issue, and the site was up and running only a couple of minutes later.
The data curated by The Block shows that the Coinbase downloads in the app store skyrocketed in the last 24 hours. The Coinbase app jumped from being the 186th most downloaded app to the second place in the span of less than a day.
Coinbase launched a 48-hour long “Less talk, more Bitcoin” marketing campaign
Super Bowl viewers who scanned the code were taken to an exclusive promotional page, greeting users with a very direct message – “Less talk, more Bitcoin.” As a part of the massive $100 million promotion, every new Coinbase user who registers an account by Tuesday is eligible to receive Bitcoin worth $15 for free and to participate in the $3 million BTC giveaway. The giveaway is open to both new and existing users and will reward three lucky participants with a one million dollar prize.
Kate Touch, the Coinbase head of marketing, said that the Super Bowl commercial was inspired by the exchange’s belief that “the best way to learn about crypto is to actually try it.” Business Insider estimates that Coinbase spent $14 million on the ad.
Coinbase’s rival FTX also made its Super Bowl debut on Sunday. The digital trading platform helmed by the 29-year old Sam Bankman Fried managed to book a famous New York comedian and producer, Larry David, for its ad break. The commercial features the iconic comedian recapping some of history’s most important inventions and events, including the wheel, electrically-powered light, flying the man to the moon, and arguing why they will never work. The ad ends with David being against the idea of the FTX crypto exchange, saying, “I don’t think so. And I am never wrong about this stuff.”
