Kraken Exec Questions Efficacy of Crypto Ads at Super Bowl Despite Global Reach

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Tim Hakki

Web 3 Journalist

Tim Hakki

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A journalist and copywriter with a decade's experience across music, video games, finance and tech.

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February 12, 2024 11:30 EST

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Kraken’s Chief Marketing Officer, Mayur Gupta, believes the Super Bowl is no longer an effective avenue for crypto marketing.

Speaking before Sunday’s US National Football League championship final, he told FOX Business that Kraken did not buy advertising space in the event because the intended reach is too US-centric.

“The next wave of crypto users will come from all around the world, not just the United States,” said Gupta.

He elaborated: “”If the last wave of crypto marketing was all about hype and FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), this current wave has to be rooted in education and awareness for the substance and true value proposition of crypto as a movement that will bring financial freedom and inclusion.”

Last year’s Super Bowl, which came in the thick of a market-wide recession, also omitted crypto promotions. However, in February 2022, crypto was all over the game. At least six companies ran ads during the final, including Bitbuy, Coinbase, Crypto.com, eToro, FTX, and Budweiser. While Bud’s advert was about beer, it also prominently included imagery from the Nouns NFT project, which the brewery had entered a partnership with after purchasing a Nouns NFT last January.

🍻 ⌐◨-◨

— Bud Light (@budlight) January 19, 2022

Super Bowl LVI: Star-Studded Crypto Excess

Crypto’s 2022 Super Bowl moment was a roll call of A-listers, with Matt Damon, Larry David, Kevin Durant and Lebron James all featuring in crypto promotions.

For many, it was their first sighting of Damon’s “Fortune Favors The Brave” commercial for the Crypto.com exchange. The media and Twitter both widely panned the commercial, with pundits calling it “cringeworthy,” “an embarrassing cash grab” and an advertisement for a Ponzi scheme.

Damon doubled down on his choice to do the advert, saying that his charity water.org was having a “down year.” Damon not only donated his wages from the commercial to the charity, but he also revealed that Crypto.com donated an additional $1 million unbidden.

Curb Your Enthusiasm star Larry David had more regret over his FTX commercial, though. After the exchange’s former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty for fraud, David and other celebrities who promoted the platform faced a class action lawsuit over their involvement promoting the company. David later called himself an “idiot” for agreeing to do the commercial. 

While Coinbase didn’t opt for a cinematic ad, the US-registered exchange did spend $16,000,000 to float a QR code on people’s television screens for 60 seconds. The website crashed a few seconds after it aired, prompting many amused takes on Twitter.

Coinbase spending $16,000,000 on a Superbowl ad to direct people to their website and $0 to make sure that website doesn't crash 10 seconds after the ad starts is so very internet.

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) February 14, 2022