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Four years after its website crashed, infuriated its audience, and hit rock bottom in the aesthetic rating game, Coinbase is looking to make another failed move upwards.
The cryptocurrency company returned to the high-stakes Super Bowl advertising game on February 8 with a 60-second spot that it hoped would inspire viewers to sing the Backstreet Boys’ “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” alongside low-resolution retro karaoke graphics.
“We’re taking the plunge,” Joe Staples, Coinbase’s vice president of creative, told USA TODAY Sports days before the ad rollout. “Do everything with your whole heart.
“Go as far as you can, and you’ll sleep better.”
Brave viewers might be forgiven for paraphrasing a line from Backstreet’s national anthem, now that they know who’s behind this singalong. Lo and behold, they’re back again..
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It was four years ago that Coinbase offered a relatively unforgettable 60 seconds of the 2022 Super Bowl 56. Equipped with nothing but a QR code bouncing from corner to corner of the screen, with the background color occasionally changing as a crude keyboard version of the Motown standard “Money (That’s What I Want),” the Pong game cost an estimated $13 million in airtime.
The company’s website crashed when the average viewer couldn’t resist and focused their camera on the QR code. Viewers erupted on social media.
The spot finished last out of 64 contestants on USA TODAY’s Ad Meter, with a 3.81 rating on a scale of 10 at the time, ranking it among the least liked commercials of the decade, ahead only of the 2020 Trump campaign, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. campaign, and U2.
However, this does not necessarily mean that the site was a failure. Curiosity’s website receives 20 million visits per minute, and its app jumps from No. 186 to No. 2 in the app store.
The excitement among viewers was, in a sense, the nadir of what the advertising industry has informally dubbed the “Crypto Bowl.” The game was flooded with sports gambling and cryptocurrency ads as FTX and Crypto.com occupied multiple slots. One of FTX’s charismatic leaders was ultimately sentenced to 25 years in prison and ordered to repay $11 billion for “orchestrating multiple fraudulent schemes.”
Coinbase has been in the public eye and is now the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the US with a valuation of $51 billion.
Since then, Coinbase has changed its creative team, with chief marketing officer Kat Feldon heading up its karaoke efforts, which it hopes will garner similar attention while keeping viewers upbeat.
“I think this ad succeeds in cutting through the noise. Just like the original QR code ad in 2022, it’s creative but perhaps a little controversial,” Feldon says. “Joe and I aren’t here for that, but we do believe it breaks away from the over-sophisticated look of all the other ads around Super Bowl time.
“Additionally, we found this concept to be an ideal follow-up to the bouncy QR code we did in ’22, as it’s highly culturally relevant, completely unexpected, and represents a truly courageous brand new ad for us.”
This year’s Super Bowl slots range from $8 million to $10 million per 30 seconds, and the stakes are only going to get higher. But for Coinbase, the risks are relative, especially when it comes with issues that could hurt a demographic hoping to put some of their hard-earned assets into the product.
“Coinbase didn’t actually buy advertising; we bought vibes, right?” Feldon says. “And the vibe is, cryptocurrencies are for everyone. Coinbase is literally for everyone.
“We’re the only brand that has the courage to step back and let our viewers have fun with us. And that’s what really sets us apart.”
