Being the most-watched program annually, the Super Bowl is also the most expensive event for advertisers. However, high prices didn’t stop blockchain companies in 2022: they invaded the Big Game and unofficially renamed it the Crypto Bowl. Let’s commemorate the details of this phenomenon and figure out whether we should expect the fever back.
The Crypto Bowl As It Was
Last year, blockchain companies invested about $54 million in ads during the Big Game. Let’s depict the brightest commercials.
Coinbase
Coibase prepared the retro:60 ad with a QR code leading users to a sign-up promo where they could participate in a $3 million giveaway. The company had 20 million hits on its website a minute after the start, and Coinbase temporarily crashed. However, the blockchain giants took the failure ironically, claiming that they hadn’t expected such popularity. The ad ranked among the five most-discussed brands on Twitter. Meanwhile, it also won a Direct Grand Prix at Cannes.
FTX
Though FTX is over, its amazing ad during the Crypto Bowl is still regarded as one of the funniest Super Bowl commercials. It featured a Larry David traveling in time to meet such inventions as the wheel, fork, toilet, coffee, light bulb, and dishwasher. He went to the moon, discovered portable music, and finally encountered cryptocurrency to say: “Ehhh, I don’t think so — and I’m never wrong about this stuff.” The ad also had a motto, “Don’t be like Larry — Don’t Miss Out”: FTX gave away 7.54 BTC to celebrate the event.
Crypto.com
The company ad featured LeBron James traveling back in time to meet his younger self from 2003 and give advice: “If you want to make history, you got to call your shots.” The ad also had a tagline: “Fortune favors the brave”. It went viral because James had become the highest-scoring player in NBA history just a day before the ad’s launch.
The Super Bowl 2023
The Super Bowl 2023 is coming, and we already know some blockchain companies are planning to steal the show. Let’s name them and describe their ideas.
Limit Break
Founded in 2021, Limit Break is a Web 3 company with a “free-to-own” NFT model, where players can get free NFTs to play with them or sell to other users. During the Super Bowl, the project will give away thousands of NFTs via a special QR code.
Bitbuy
Launched in 2016, Bitbuy is a crypto exchange platform that has already been highlighted during the “Crypto Boal”. This year, it comes back, doubling the length of its commercial and changing its message to trust.
The Crypto Bowl Predictions
Will there be more blockchain companies to join? Analytics have different opinions: some claim there are multiple reasons we shouldn’t expect the Crypto Bowl back, and others emphasize that the Super Bowl will indeed have blockchain ads. Let’s explore their arguments.
Arguments Against The Crypto Bowl Comeback
Crypto Awareness
Studies conducted before February showed crypto awareness in the USA stayed low despite the NFT hype, P2E games, and metaverses. However, the Crypto Bowl changed the situation by representing the diverse world of blockchain technologies to 99.2 million viewers. As a result, over 46 million citizens became interested in buying crypto. So, blockchain companies don’t have to boost their visibility again.
Market Situation
It is not a secret that in 2022 the blockchain industry faced difficulties. Currently, it is recovering and mainly investing in its product development and upgrade. Thus, huge companies will not likely spend huge sums on their TV representation.
Questionable Efficiency
Thanks to the Super Bowl of 2022, the crypto world gained more mainstream recognition. However, the industry that stands for decentralization, its values, and its tools can only be explained to the wider audience with the means of the central TV. Thus, the efficiency of such massive advertisements is questionable.
Specific Audience
Though the Super Bowl is a significant event watched by various groups, this year, its primary target audience differs from the one the blockchain industry has: while Gen Z and millennials run the blockchain world, the big game is expected to be watched mainly by middle-aged enthusiasts.
Arguments For The Crypto Bowl Comeback
Unaffected Creativity
Each Super Bowl has its best and worst commercials. However, considering that most of them refer to the same repeating groups of products, they tend to have similar features and cliches that annoy spectators and make them stop working. Meanwhile, being a still new industry, the blockchain world can make the most of unbeaten ways of self-representation. Thus, companies can benefit from pioneering the Super Bowl ads.
NFT Rise
Social polls and blockchain studies show that NFT is still blooming, with 16.3 million potential customers. Thus, the Super Bowl seems a prominent opportunity for creators and brands to manifest their relevance and attract more users.
Massive Metaversification
Have you ever heard of metaverse fashion weeks, stores, festivals, and concerts? Virtual reality has become a cornerstone for brand representation. Thus, since many big players of multiple industries will pay for the Super Bowl ads, metaverse blockchain companies can hang around and showcase their possibilities for further collaborations and promotion.
Seasonal Booms
The Crypto Bowl of 2022 was widely compared with the Dot-com Bowl of 2000, when 17 of 61 ads sold came from dot-com companies. Some of them went big, and some failed, but the thing was that their mass representation highlighted the epoch of their demand. Meanwhile, the crypto world is still in demand and, as experts say, will mutate, go through difficult times, and strengthen its hand. So, it is likely to invade the Super Bowl and other events.
Conclusion
As you see, in the epoch of blockchain technologies, the Super Bowl can go crypto as it happened in 2022. Will the situation be the same this year or later? Time will tell! Let’s wait for the event together and have fun placing predictions with Prosper: social.prosper.so
