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Crypto has become a mainstay in major parts of our economy. However, it seems it’s not enough to just develop a good product. To really make your product big, you need to market it. Cryptocurrency marketing requires flexibility in using traditional advertising methods and new wave tactics. This piece will go through successful brands and how they got crypto marketing campaigns down.
Crypto.com
When we think of a Crypto exchange, we might think of Crypto.com. Why is that? It’s because Crypto.com as a brand has put its name everywhere, whether it be the former Staples center, or maybe its 2 ads in the Super Bowl commercials. This is no coincidence, Crypto.com has to be one of the biggest spenders in the crypto sphere. According to Forbes magazine, Crypto has a marketing budget of $100 million. Now, let’s dive into what successes their crypto marketing campaigns have had with this ad budget.
Crypto.com arena
On November 17th of 2021, Crypto.com made a deal with AEG to put its name on the now-iconic Staples center. This move caused a stir within basketball audiences, crypto fanatics, and even LA natives.
Preparing to scoff disdainfully at anyone who calls Staples Center by its new name the way Chicagoans do when you call the Sears Tower the Willis Tower
— Jake Liker (@JakeLiker) November 17, 2021
Noted, most of the conversation was critical of renaming something of an LA cultural icon, the renaming itself brought Crypto.com firmly into the minds of millions. This would reflect in the price of Crypto.com’s coin CRO. According to CoinGecko, CRO jumped 24% within 24 hours.
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FTX
FTX is a centralized exchange that deals with Cryptocurrency derivatives. After their year-long marketing campaign, they increased their audience base by 11,900% to 1.2 million users and secured $400 million in additional funding. But the question is what did they do right, to get this reaction.
Who else liked the #LarryDavid ad? 😂
Some called Sunday's game the Crypto Bowl, due to all the ads for #cryptocurrency platforms like #Coinbase, #cryptocom and #FTX.
According to @MorningBrew & @sbjsbd, #crypto ad spend in sports TV will reach $100m in 2022. pic.twitter.com/8hZGSVD9EJ
— Cential 💡 (@GRCential) February 16, 2022
FTX & The Miami Heat
Part of transforming FTX into a household name was to connect it to a major aspect of households: sports. In 2021, The Miami Heat announced that they would become long-term partners with FTX, even renaming the home of the Miami Heat into FTX Arena. With this, they would put in premium seats that would give $200 in free crypto, upon account activation. According to McCullough, this would lead to a 100% conversion rate a day after the promotion.
FTX & The Superbowl Ads
In the most recent SuperBowl, FTX showed out with an ad that would divide Twitter. In this ad, Larry plays a crypto critic and is compared to critics of all past technology. In one scene, Larry even tells Edison that his lightbulb sucked. The responses to this ad ranged from grave disappointment to fan enthusiasm, but one thing was clear: FTX was trending.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH5-rSxilxo
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eToro
eToro is an Israeli-based multi-asset brokerage company that provides financial services but also a social media-esque approach to investing in crypto and stocks. While eToro may seem like a business in the background, we can definitively say that this platform has seen explosive growth year after year. To show this growth we can see that in 2019 eToro executed 8 million trades per month, in 2020 that grew to 27 million, in January of 2021 eToro executed 75 million trades. But how did eToro do this?
eToro & sports
To say that eToro’s marketing team loves to be sponsored by sports teams is an understatement. In 2018, eToro sponsored these 7 different UK Premier League teams.
- Tottenham Hotspur
- Brighton & Hove Albion F.C.
- Cardiff City F.C
- Crystal Palace F.C
- Leicester F.C
- Newcastle United F.C
- Southhampton F.C
In 2019, they would make sponsorship agreements with
- American KTM team of MotoGP
- the Ultimate Fighting Championship
- French tennis player Gael Monfils
- German football club Eintracht Frankfurt
Their sports sponsorship strategy would culminate in their 2020 lineup, as eToro would partner with 12 different UK, French, German, and Danish sports teams.
- West Bromwich Albion
- Burnley FC
- FC Augsburg
- 1. FC Cologne
- Hamburger SV
- Unionn Berlin
- VfL Wolfsburg
- AS Monaco
- FC Midtjylland
The cherry on top is that eToro became presenting partners with Rugby Australia, in their 2020 Tri Nations rugby series. In 2021, they would expand this to be a major partner for 3 years.
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Etoro – social investing ad
While the bulk of eToro’s marketing efforts has been largely outside of America, they would enter the crypto fray by entering into the SuperBowl halftime adspace. In this advertisement, we see an emphasis on the community aspect of eToro’s exchange, which deviated heavily from FTX and Cyrpto.com’s emphasis on FOMO. To this end, we can see eToro was successful in their campaign, as it increased downloads by 132% in the app store (Tech Crunch).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RujOCq2VlJc
Coinbase
Last but not least, a remarkable company that utilizes cryptocurrency marketing to a very effective degree is Coinbase. For context, Coinbase is a cryptocurrency exchange that came into existence in June of 2012. Coinbase utilizes traditional marketing and new-wave digital marketing tactics to a high degree of efficiency.
Coinbase-referall program
One of the many tactics Coinbase uses to increase its audience base is the usage of a referral program. In this program, Coinbase pays users $10 every time they refer someone who buys $100 worth of cryptocurrency. This program lasts 180 days and has a payout within the period of 4 days.
Coinbase-superbowl ad
But the most notable advertisement from Coinbase was their Superbowl ad. The ad itself is a throwback to the DVD era of the bouncing square. But the sticker was the usage of self-interest to reinforce the ad. The ad gave away $15 worth of Bitcoin and entered people into a 15 million dollar giveaway. This ad was so successful, it brought 20 million people onto Coinbase within the span of a minute. In the marketing world, this is unheard of and unprecedented. With this ad, Coinbase jumped from 186th place in the App Store to 2nd place.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zLsUhOCqyU
Applying crypto marketing campaigns to your business
1. Partner with companies that have large audience bases that intersect with your customer demographics.
If FTX and eToro are examples to be followed, you should partner with companies or products that are already in households. If your marketing budget allows it, you can connect it to sports teams and events, whether they be big or small. The important thing is to get your brand out there where it is visible to your consumer base.
2. Give money or items away in exchange for a service, signups, or even publicity.
Follow Coinbase’s lead and develop a referral program that pays users to refer their friends. This tactic used to a higher degree would be copying Coinbases affiliate program and paying influencers a portion of each customer transaction they generate. And finally, we can look at Coinbase’s usage of a lottery system in their Superbowl ad, to generate signups.
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3. Creating a sense of curiosity that inspires action.
Think outside the box and find a way that gets people to act on your ad. To augment this, try using tip #2 and create a way that gets people to share this ad through sheer self-interest.
