A 12-part tweet from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong over the cryptocurrency's Super Bowl ad—and a response from The Martin Agency’s CEO Kristen Cavallo—seemingly began over credit for advertising ideas, but ended up generating an industry-wide groundswell over agency-client relationships. As agency exec after agency exec weighed in on the debate that played out over Twitter and LinkedIn, it was clear that the exchange touched a nerve within the industry: Agencies are feeling undervalued by clients.

It began with Armstrong taking a victory lap Monday on Twitter over the company’s QR code Super Bowl ad. Armstrong praised the ad in a series of tweets, even going as far as to claim that “no ad agency would have done this ad.” That prompted a response from Cavallo of Martin, which won agency of record duties for Coinbase in May: “Except an ad agency did do that ad.”

Cavallo's contention was that Martin had actually come up with the idea for the bouncing QR code, and in her tweet she cited pages in a deck the agency had submitted to Coinbase in August to prove it.

Accenture Interactive had been credited with creating the Super Bowl ad. Coinbase and Accenture Interactive did not respond to requests for comment.

Cavallo later said her intent was not to seek credit for Martin, but to call out Armstrong’s disrespect for the agency world in general.  “It’s not an IP issue or credit issue,” said Cavallo, who later acknowledged in a LinkedIn post that "I understand that multiple agencies can arrive at a similar idea."

Rather, Cavallo said in an interview, “I think that ad agencies are tired of feeling the lack of respect that shows up in so many ways. It shows up in timelines, it shows up in fees, it shows up in jump balls. It shows up in extraordinarily long pitches, it shows up in not having a seat at the table, it shows up in being actively dismissed or erased for our contribution. I feel like agencies are feeling dismissed and that the value of what we provide is being called into question every day.”

Cavallo's sentiment resonated with the agency world, which roared approval. “I hope [Cavallo’s action] inspires the agency world to stand up for itself," said Mike Duda, partner, Bullish. "There is a lot of bad behavior and it won’t stop if you don’t call it out—and she did it with absolute class.”

Coinbase CMO Kate Rouch said in a tweet Monday that, "Multiple agencies—including The Martin Agency—pitched us ideas that included QR codes for several different campaigns. However none of the ideas from any of our partners were conceptually what we were looking for and remained on the cutting room floor."

Rouch said she made the decision for Coinbase to drop Martin after becoming CMO: “Breaking up is hard to do,” she tweeted. “I wish the team at The Martin Agency all the best.” As for Armstrong's initial tweets crediting Coinbase's in-house team for the ad, Rouch said: "The fit with our creative partner Accenture Interactive (AI) was seamless—so much to that extent our CEO actually thought we were a single team when presenting work."

Glenn Cole, founder and creative chair at 72andSunny, says this is all part of an “overdue” conversation on the true value of creativity. “Agencies have an opportunity to better understand how value is truly measured and perceived by their clients,” Cole said. “Clients have an opportunity to re-evaluate how, and maybe even why, they need a creative partner and how to foster an environment and relationship that makes the most of it, otherwise, why bother? Clearly, expectations are not aligned in a lot of these relationships. You can't build trust in that environment.”

Related: A small agency's claim of 'stolen' work points to a larger industry issue

The Big Game ad

Coinbase’s minimalist Super Bowl ad made a splash among flashy Big Game work with its bouncing, color-changing QR code. The spot racked up big numbers for the crypto platform and even crashed its site briefly, although it ultimately placed last in USA Today’s Super Bowl Ad Meter. Overall, the ad seemed an incontrovertible success. In the tweet thread, Armstrong said an unnamed agency pitched Coinbase “a bunch of standard Super Bowl ad ideas,” which he defined as “gimmicky, celebrity cameo driven, going for a laugh,” but that ultimately the brand’s internal team thought up their own ideas. In her tweets, Cavallo claimed Martin pitched the floating QR code concept on Aug. 18 and Oct. 7, 2021, and referenced the page numbers of the pitch that she says contained the idea. 

Armstrong’s tweet credited his company’s team with “breaking the rules on marketing” and charged that agencies are too concerned with impressing their peers. In his tweets, Armstrong also said that the work was partially inspired by Reddit’s 5-second 2021 Super Bowl ad. That spot was produced by R/GA, which shared its own thoughts on the situation over Twitter. 

R/GA had in fact participated in the review for Coinbase’s business last year but had not pitched any work that was similar to the Super Bowl spot this year, according to Tiffany Rolfe, R/GA's global chief creative officer. 

The industry weighs in

In a follow-up post on LinkedIn, Cavallo wrote that “I objected to the dismissive tone of [Armstrong’s] thread and the denigration of ad agencies. I felt compelled to respond to the bravado of, ‘No agency would have done this ad,’ because in fact, an agency did. The purpose of my response was to stand up for agencies and creatives, and the value we provide.”

At this writing, the post had more than 8,000 reactions and 515 comments. Prominent agency executives flooded social media with supportive comments, including Alex Lopez, global chief creative officer at McCann Worldgroup; Sandy Greenberg, co-founder and CEO of Terri & Sandy; Amani Duncan, president of BBH USA;  Keith Cartwright, president and chief creative officer at Cartwright and Javier Campopiano, global chief creative officer of Grey. 

“I was so happy to see somebody finally calling a client out for this kind of thing, it's not just the bad behavior. It's the arrogance that really gets to me, which was my first reaction when I saw it,” said Nancy Hill, co-founder and CEO of Media Sherpas and former CEO of the 4A’s. “It was a way that he was so dismissive of ad agencies and what it is that they can do for a brand or for a company.”

Standing up

The issues brought up from the tweet struck a nerve with other leaders in the industry, with a recurring theme that this is an all too common problem. 

“If you stand up for your work in this way, you can be labeled as difficult to work with. And no agency wants to be that. So we stay silent. We don’t say anything,” said Kendra Schaaf, managing director at Mojo Supermarket. “We let people steal our ideas because we want clients to call us in the future. This is the primary reason you don’t hear stories like this. But we’re seeing more agencies believe in their work and their reputation.”

“And on the ‘No agency could have done this,’ I didn’t realize all the creative advertising geniuses were hiding at Coinbase. Looks like we’ve been recruiting from the wrong places,” Schaaf added. 

David Demuth, CEO at Doner said, “I think more and more with clients building in-house operations and doing project-based engagements and things like that, it's bound to happen. For agencies, our ideas and our intellectual property, that's our currency. And when those things are being co-opted or stolen and we don't get paid for it, that's unfortunate.”

Lindsey Slaby, founder of Sunday Dinner added that she was “befuddled” as to why Armstrong “felt it necessary to have this Twitter dialogue,” but applauded Cavallo’s willingness to speak up. “I like to see leaders who are always looking forward and that can mean blowing things up. It takes very brave and new leaders to do this. People from different industries, different backgrounds, and with different points of view.”

And she added: “Since when is Accenture not creative either? [Global Chief Creative Officer] Neil Heymann and [CEO and Creative Chairman] David Droga happen to be at the helm and are two of the most visionary creative talents of our lifetime.”

'Promiscuous world'

Jeff Goodby, co-founder of Goodby Silverstein & Partners, said both clients and agencies have obligations, particularly now given the unraveling of agency of record relationships.

“In a promiscuous new world of project work, it’s up to the clients to keep these things straight. You are playing fast and loose with people’s creativity, craft and ultimately, livelihoods,” said Goodby, adding that clients need to consider: “Will your brand want that reputation? Brands are going to have to give a shit about things like this.”

This discussion is far from over and Cavallo, for one, believes it’s overdue. “I have received a few emails from industry leaders that I respect that have suggested that we get together and talk about how we can propel the industry forward and I look forward to that,” Cavallo said. “I hope that agencies and clients unpack why this struck a chord. I hope they unpack what is the deeper issue that motivated so many people in this instance and how can we create a level footing between agencies and clients based on mutual respect and value for the role of marketing in generating business success.”

Contributing: Keira Wingate