Coinbase doubles down on financial reform in newest ads

Coinbase has a new national TV spot that illustrates 12,000 years in the evolution of money in 30 seconds. The commercial, which aired during last night's NBA playoffs game between the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers on ESPN, is part of a second marketing wave behind its “Update the System” campaign, which launched in March. See all of Ad Age's Web3 Trailblazers here Dubbed “The History of Money,” the ad details the various forms of currencies that civilizations have used. The animation begins with goats in 10,000 B.C., then traces the transition to inanimate currencies such as gold and moves to the modern era of bills and coins before finally landing on digital currencies like bitcoin and ether. The refrain of the bluesy backing track sets the tone: “Things gotta change around here.” Coinbase’s “Update the System” campaign reflects a focused effort by the exchange to educate U.S. consumers about the reasons to use cryptocurrency, as opposed to previous campaigns that were more product-focused. The debut spot was a 60-second national commercial that depicted many of the frustrations that U.S. residents have with the financial system. A survey of this demographic conducted by Coinbase in February found that 80% of respondents want to update the financial system. The new ad, created by Coinbaes’s in-house creative studio, will be accompanied by four regional TV spots in the Washington, D.C. area—a clear effort by Coinbase to focus its message on the lawmaking population. CEO Brian Armstrong recently made headlines for saying that should regulatory clarity not emerge in the U.S., he would consider relocating the exchange outside of the country. He later qualified his statement by saying that Coinbase would always have a U.S. presence. The exchange is currently headquartered in San Francisco. The four Washington-centric spots will feature Armstrong explaining why crypto matters in a stripped-down, black-and-white monologue format. The first of those ads aired on Sunday, and the other three will debut on each subsequent Sunday. This week, DC will see a new TV campaign that explains how crypto moves America forward and why it’s the most important technology we have to create more economic freedom.It’s time to update the system. Crypto can help.Learn more at https://t.co/6Hf1DAqeIV pic.twitter.com/hmAQuNiA34— Coinbase 🛡️ (@coinbase) May 22, 2023 As part of this second marketing wave, Coinbase next month will issue a visual campaign on Wall Street that documents the history of money, as well as a roving billboard in the form of an armored money truck, which will drive around New York to illustrate the inefficiency with which money is moved today. Coinbase also plans to run digital content showcasing real-life crypto use cases. Crypto marketing has seen significant change since the halcyon days of last year and is now mainly an effort by two companies, Coinbase and OKX. The latter launched an ad earlier this month that took a jab at Coinbase: “It’s not time to update the system—it’s time to rewrite it,” the spot’s narration said in a jab at Coinbase’s March campaign. Read more: See OKX’s new campaign Coinbase, meanwhile, appears to be attempting to come across as a more serious company with a serious mission. Still, there is reason to believe that Coinbase remains out of touch with most U.S. consumers. Only 20% of Americans own crypto, according to Coinbase’s own survey. Beyond concerns over its usefulness, crypto also has a major reputation problem. The space has long been associated with self-interested tech bros—a label that some crypto companies have recently tried to dispel—and the late 2022 blowup of FTX has not done crypto any favors. Even Coinbase’s new ad is unable to escape from questionable choices that some consumers may find an issue with. Its backing song—“Change” by singer and longtime civil rights activist Mavis Staples—is a meditation on violence and the need for social reform in America. Not, as Coinbase has used it, to voice support for memecoins.

Coinbase doubles down on financial reform in newest ads

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