let’s start with the kerfuffle
All due respect to my colleagues in the advertising/marketing space, who asked for credit for criticizing Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase. As I watched Mr Armstrong being reprimanded on Twitter, I couldn’t help but think, “Poor man – he doesn’t know how marketing works and now he’s paying the price.” It’s true, he doesn’t know marketing.
For the uninitiated, Coinbase is a cryptocurrency wallet designed to allow customers to transact and trade cryptocurrencies in a secure environment. Mr. Armstrong may, in fact, be good in that piece. But as I completely unpacked the kerfuffle, I realized that all of us, in the marketing and advertising realm, are crying out for credit for the only remotely interesting thing that happened in a Super Bowl ad in 2022, (yes I say that the advertisements were without inspiration – or more so – they sank), we fail to grasp a fundamental truth underlying Mr. Armstrong’s business. Keeping your customer’s money safe.
Rewinding on Super Bowl Sunday
Rewinding to the broadcast of the Super Bowl—thank goodness for the great game, saving us from lame torture and sometimes weird commercials—when the QR code thing in Atari format popped up on the screen and started pounding its way across the screen. Done, I realized immediately, there’s no labeling, no identification, no connection to anything on this screen. And so in PT Barnum fashion, untold millions of viewers scanned the code to “see what it is”, only to find it was Coinbase.
Well, color relieved me because it was for a legitimate business venture, but the genius of it was lost on me. When a friend texted me to tell me who it was for, I could only feel anger. How could it be that a company that has responsibilities and manages assets worth possibly billions in its customers’ accounts would encourage the public to scan a digital artifact that could present an unimaginable variety of malware? Although the risk of a hacker buying a Super Bowl ad to project the mass hype of our mobile phones to the general population is unlikely, the medium is indeed the message. Randomly scanning unintentional QR codes is not a good way to keep your device or your data safe. With each QR code, I am given a menu, a small piece of me die. Then I eat and I feel better. But in this case, Coinbase literally means “go ahead and scan – that’s good, nothing to worry about”.
Far from Coinbase’s responsibility (albeit shared with each customer), encouraging bad behavior is, in fact, bad practice in this case. It’s silly to think that someone at Coinbase thought it was okay.
And what about the agency?
OK – what about the agency? It’s no big industry secret that agencies are always going to go for what’s good, and what will drive engagement. That is their work. Especially during the Super Bowl when millions are spent to enable brands to stand out and make a big statement. (Or to dress up famous people like Barbie dolls, whatever).
mission accomplished. It was a very creative idea to get people involved. If awareness was the goal – boom – you nailed it. If the conversation had a goal – slam dunk! If a Cleo was the target – I have no doubt that you will reap what you sow when the time comes. But rewards can be the worst possible incentive for agencies if they don’t take into account the business results of the campaign. What did Coinbase as a business win from this campaign?
A few questions for the agency:
- Customer, how was Coinbase involved in driving this idea? What resistance did he express by telling you about his fiduciary responsibility?
- In running my own research on the client and what do they do – how did this idea “game-out”, what does this mean for the client’s brand – have been destroyed in my eyes?
- How did you deliver on the brand promise with every mind-blowing stunt of a campaign?
- How did it change? How many new Coinbase customers said – “You know, I’m really glad I fell for that scam!”? I think new accounts will be your big win. how did you do
Question for Brian Armstrong:
- Are you sure you want credit for this?
- What does it think of you as how you are protecting your customers’ assets by encouraging irresponsible behavior with the same device you help them manage their assets?
