While for most companies the Super Bowl is regarded as one of the best opportunities to showcase the best of their companies, Coinbase has decided to take the other route to show nothing but a classic meme.
Coinbase at the Super Bowl LVI
In its efforts to draw attention and potentially more users to its platform, Coinbase displayed an ad that did not highlight the platform's capabilities or milestones, or cryptocurrencies.
But conversely, for 1 minute straight the cryptocurrency exchange bounced a QR code with a black background that changed color every time it hit a wall.
Using the return to the famous DVD logo, Coinbase had over 100 million people anticipating the QR code to hit the corner.
After bouncing for 59 seconds, it finally hit the 1 minute mark post that the Coinbase logo appeared with the QR code landing page.
The landing page which was basically a giveaway / contest managed to garner 20 million hits in just 1 minute.
The giveaway including $ 15 for new users who sign up and a $ 3 million reward for users who already have an account has exploded significantly.
As described by Coinbase's Chief Product Officer, Surojit Chatterjee:
"Not only that, he went on to say that the commitment they witnessed in response to the Super Bowl publicity was 6 times their previous benchmarks."
An expensive joke
Call it smart marketing or sheer luck that led to advertising receiving such a huge response, because Coinbase was playing a very risky game with their advertising.
Super Bowl ads are not only difficult to catch, they are also very expensive. So choosing to bounce a QR code for 1 minute was a bold move on Coinbase's part.
This year, Super Bowl ads cost about $ 7 million for every 30 seconds, which is a 25% increase from $ 5,6 million in 2019.
This means that Coinbase has shelled out $ 14 million in addition to its $ 15 sign-up reward for new users to run their ad, details of which have not yet been revealed.
All in all, Coinbase has managed to overturn the convention of how Super Bowl ads play out by bouncing a simple QR code.
And have you seen the commercial that Coinbase showed during the Super Bowl? Or did you just focus on Eminem's spectacular half time show? Please let us know by writing us in the comments section below.
