Crypto marketing—3 key consumer trends from the latest Harris Poll

Considering cryptocurrency’s recent history, making an investment could easily be visualized as riding a roller coaster—one packed with nitroglycerin. “Crypto’s 14th year in existence was one marred by scandal, bankruptcy, fraud and regulatory squabbling,” CNN reported at the end of last year. “It still may have been the industry’s best year ever.” In January, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved regulated exchanges listing and trading bitcoin exchange-traded funds. This drove a new wave of cryptocurrency investors, dramatically increasing its value, which hit a record in March … before plummeting again in April. The start of May marked a new low when all 10 bitcoin ETFs lost money on the same day. “In the past four weeks, the funds have seen around $6 billion in losses, a drop in assets under management of around 20%,” Fortune reported earlier this month. Ad Age Salary Guide The hottest ad industry jobs and what they’re paying Read more here It's little wonder that 83% of Americans see cryptocurrency as a risky investment, according to a recent Harris Poll survey—or that 62% believe it’s a fad. And while 54% of Americans say that they are familiar with cryptocurrency, only 32% feel that they understand it. Curiosity is part of the American DNA, however. The same polling shows that a narrow majority (51%) believe cryptocurrency is a good way to diversify an investment portfolio. And of Americans who are familiar with it, more than 2 in 5 are or have been investors. Indeed, when we asked investors what had drawn them to cryptocurrency, the leading answer was “curiosity.” It's a reminder that Americans’ views toward cryptocurrency, much like the experience of dealing with the digital money itself, are neither straightforward nor monolithic. Digging deeper into Americans’ attitudes, we found three key trends: Why Americans invest—and don’t—in cryptocurrency Risk is the biggest driver of the crypto-averse, with a plurality saying it’s the reason they have not invested. Americans’ feelings about the digital currency are strongly influenced by age, with 60% of baby boomers seeing it as too risky while no more than 37% of any other generation sees it that way. Importantly, roughly 1 in 3 cryptocurrency non-investors (32%) say they don’t invest because they don’t understand it, while more than 1 in 4 (27%) say that don’t because they don’t know how to invest. Not understanding cryptocurrency tied with “too risky” among women as the reason they don’t invest. But ignorance is a removable barrier. As mentioned above, curiosity is the leading driver of Americans investing in cryptocurrency, with 43% naming it. Profitability was the second most-cited reason at 31%, followed by acting on the recommendation of someone known personally (30%). This adds up to a mixed bag for cryptocurrency. The factor that most draws investors—intrigue—is unsustainable over the long term. But neither is its flip side—lack of understanding—which is the third biggest reason people avoid cryptocurrency, followed by not knowing how to invest at fourth. Over time people are going to become more familiar with the digital currency. Whether that familiarity brings comfort or contempt will dictate how much the market grows. Crypto is a young investor’s game Cryptocurrency’s biggest boosters are men, people of color and younger Americans. Among people familiar with the digital currency, nearly half of men are current or former investors (49%) versus only 30% of women; majorities of Gen Z (53%) and millennials (59%) familiar with it have invested as opposed to a bit more than 1 in 3 Gen Xers (36%) and a miniscule 14% of baby boomers; and 52% of people of color familiar with it have invested while only 3 in 10 whites say the same. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs While investor motivation largely lines up with that of the general population—curiosity and financial interests—understanding is a differentiating factor. While 32% of the general population says that it understands cryptocurrency, that figure rises to 40% among men (and drops to 24% among women) and is even higher among Gen Z (46%), millennials (42%) and people of color (41%, which is 15 percentage points higher than the 26% of whites who agree). To understand is to … invest? The theme running through our findings is the relationship between understanding cryptocurrency and investing in it. The fear of risk can be mitigated provided the underlying mechanics are digestible. But digital currency is literally and figuratively hard to grasp and that ignorance gap remains cryptocurrency’s biggest barrier. One other obstacle to public education, however: Americans overwhelming (71%) distrust cryptocurrency marketing efforts. That skepticism thrives among the industry’s skeptics and even has inroads among its supporters, including 69% of men and 60% of people of color. Gen Zers (50%) and millennials (52%) are the most open to cryptocurrency marketing, but they are the proverbial choir listening to the sermon. The cryptocurrency industry is going to have get the word out about its product the old-fashioned way—through word of mouth, experience and the media. It must hope that the roller coaster swings up more than it plummets. AI marketing blog How brands are using ChatGPT, DALL-E 2 and other tools Read more here

Crypto marketing—3 key consumer trends from the latest Harris Poll

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