Credit: Getty Images / Crypto.com #2 You’re gonna be seeing a lot less crypto ads at the Super Bowl this year What a difference a year makes. Just 1 year ago, Super Bowl LVI was awash in expensive, star-studded commercials for companies like Cyrpto.com, eToro, FTX, and Coinbase, and the cryptocurrency revolution seemed ascendant. This year, there won’t be a single crypto ad during Super Bowl LVII, as the Big Game’s broadcast is reverting back to more traditional brand categories like alcohol, cars, snack food, and movies. Why the complete U-turn? Well, a LOT has happened in the 12 months between games. FTX collapsed in spectacular fashion, losing scores of its clients’ savings and prompting the indictment of its founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried on a range of federal charges, including securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. He faces up to 115 years in prison if convicted on all counts. Another major crypto player, the lending company Celsius Network, went bankrupt in July, only 1 month after shocking the digital currency market by announcing a freeze on all transfers and withdrawals due to “extreme” conditions. A number of aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve affected the crypto market, as well, just as they have other segments of the economy. There are a several other factors, some involving actions by overseas regimes like China and Russia, that have also had an influence on crypto’s precipitous fall from grace in 2022. But when looked at altogether, the portrait they paint is clear: One year’s hot new thing is another year’s bygone trend. Last year, crypto was so ubiquitous during the Super Bowl LVI ad breaks that several outlets jokingly referred to the telecast itself as the “Crypto Bowl.” Celebrities like LeBron James, Matt Damon, and Larry David were deployed to sell millions of viewers on the aspirational power of crypto. Now, some of those very same celebrities are being sued in a class action lawsuit by furious ex-FTX customers who lost everything, and the ads themselves are being derisively compared to the dot-com commercials of Super Bowl XXXIV, which similarly turned out to be a bubble just waiting to burst. In an actual quote given to NBC News the day after last year’s Super Bowl, one marketing strategy CEO said, “Showing up in the most premium real estate in all of television allows [crypto companies] to rent the legitimacy of that space and say, ‘We’re here and we’re part of this American tradition.’ You get brand equity and credibility that way — trust, recognition — and that drives up purchase intent.” With a year of hindsight, can anybody say with a straight face that they feel the crypto market’s “brand equity,” “credibility,” and “recognition” have become more “legitimate”? Perhaps this simple stat sums it up best: If you were a typical football fan who put $1,000 into Bitcoin from the couch mid-broadcast on February 13, 2022, you’d have $540 right now. ⭢ KnowThis Super Bowl LVII, which will feature the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs, will kick off this Sunday around 6 pm EST. The broadcast is projected to easily draw north of 100 million U.S. viewers, and the average ad spend for a typical 30-second commercial this year is between $6 and $7 million. And though they won’t be shilling for crypto, there will still be plenty of top talent in this year’s TV spots, with Jack Harlow, Maya Rudolph, Rob Gronkowski, Missy Elliott, and others expected to make an appearance.
The word is already out. It really doesnt matter if they post ads or not. People already know about it. I could do without the ads myself, it was pretty boring seeing stuff advertised that im already involved in
I never watched Super Bowl in my life, and don't care to either. I'd rather watch Cramer on CNBC, which gives even BETTER investment advice than any Super Bowl Ads...