Will this Year’s Crypto Onslaught Attract Investors?

While many know of them, cryptocurrencies have not made their way into mainstream American investing. Cryptocurrencies, and their blockchain cousin nonfungible tokens (NFTs), remain on the fringe of investing circles, with many still hesitant of these new species of asset. The crypto brands hope that getting their names in front of millions of gameday viewers will normalize the blockchain and build consumer trust in this investment option.

This year, Super Bowl viewers were hit by an onslaught of crypto. Cryptocurrency platforms crypto.com (“Fortune Favors the Brave”), Coinbase (“WAGMI”), FTX (“Don’t Miss Out”), and eToro (“Flying Your Way”) joined the lineup of advertisers. On top of the commercials, the Big Game was hosted within a stadium named for another crypto trading platform (SoFi Stadium). While most of the brands maintained an upbeat, and sometimes humorous tone, Coinbase generated interest through surprise.

Coinbase launched an unexpected one-minute minimalist ad with only a color changing QR code moving across a black screen (which cost about $13 million). Once scanned, viewers were awarded a limited time offer – free $15 in Bitcoin for signing up, and the opportunity to enter a $3 million giveaway. Smartly, Coinbase’s untraditional ad inspired viewers to navigate to their platform mid-Super Bowl and provided hesitant Americans risk-free entry into crypto investing. Coinbase generated so much traffic that their app temporarily crashed.

Both FTX (+3.4) and Crypto.com (+2.4) were able to successfully increase consumer familiarity with their brands from their Super Bowl advertisements. However, Americans are still slow to consider dipping their toes into crypto investing. Crypto.com’s consideration score only grew by +0.3, while FTX’s actually decreased by -0.2.

Crypto platforms may need to extend their marketing goals beyond increasing awareness to explaining the value of crypto investing. , 88% of U.S. adults said they were aware of cryptocurrency, but only 49% felt familiar with crypto. Twenty-one percent of adults reported being currently invested in cryptocurrencies, while 62% had never invested in crypto.

WANT MORE INSIGHTS FROM THE BIG GAME? DOWNLOAD OUR FULL BRAND BOWL 2022 REPORT.

Super Bowl LVI Embraces NFTs…But Viewers Do Not

In addition to cryptocurrencies, the blockchain’s other primary asset, NFTs, gained a prominent foothold in 2022’s Big Game. Super Bowl ticket holders received a NFT personalized with their seat number to commemorate the day.

Advertiser Bud Light Next’s “Zero in the Way of Possibility” incorporated the NFT world into their commercial. Their ad featured “Noun glasses” from the popular Nouns Ethereum NFT project (a partner of Bud Light). The glasses appear on a piece of museum art, signaling NFTs’ place as the collectable art of the future.

However, most Americans have not bought into the NFT hype, seeing more value in physical than digital items. More than half (62%) of U.S. adults agree that sports-related digital collectables (e.g., downloadable event poster, behind-the-scenes footage, virtual athlete trading cards) are not as valuable as physical memorabilia. Only 31% are interested in buying exclusive digital collectables as a keepsake. Thirty-two percent are interested in buying an exclusive digital collectable to resell for a profit.

While this year’s Super Bowl may have raised awareness of NFTs, they have more work to do before NFTs can claim popularity. As of, 49% of U.S. adults were aware of NFTs. Of those, 26% felt familiar with NFT investing. Only 20% of those who were aware of NFTs were currently invested in them, and 62% had never invested in them.