The big players in the crypto world are shelling out millions of dollars to run ads in next Sunday’s Super Bowl between Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams. Coinbase Global Inc, Bitbuy, FTX, and Crypto.com are set to run a spot.
Super Bowl ad spots are mainly taken by companies and businesses that have the cash to burn. This time around, it’s not Coca-Cola or Nike or Apple, but crypto exchanges that are hoping to catch some attention.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, says its a way to get their names out there and it’s hard to find a higher-profile one than Super Bowl. The crypto sector has been witnessing profits in recent months due to the increased adoption and use of digital currencies. Venture-capital firms have reportedly injected $30 billion into the crypto sector in 2021 alone. Coinbase Global, the newly public crypto exchange, reported a profit of $2.8 billion for nine months of its fiscal year.
According to IEG, while the crypto sector is relatively new to sports sponsorships, it is spending more (annually) than airline companies and quick-service restaurants. The sponsorship consulting firm expects spending on sports sponsorships in North America, by crypto companies, to go up more than $160 million this year.
Peter Laatz, the global managing director at IEG, described this as a staggering increase. He explained that the crypto sector wants to educate people because a lot of people have not heard about these companies. Moreover, there is confusion about what cryptocurrencies are and what people can do with them. Crypto.com has been known to take up an aggressive campaign with ads running in Formula One racing, professional basketball, women’s football, Australian football, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, etc. In 2021, the company struck a 20-year deal for the naming rights to Los Angeles’s Staples Centre for $700 million.
Acknowledging the growth in advertising expenditure by crypto companies, brands are embedding themselves into crypto-theme campaigns and marketing gimmicks.
