(calm music)
- [Narrator] SUPERBOWL 56 is the first time
that cryptocurrency companies will be advertising
on the largest stage in the world.
- This moment with these companies buying ads
in the SUPERBOWL,
sort of caps off what has been a long run up
for the cryptocurrency sector
in terms of its mainstream recognition and acceptance.
And now what you are going to see probably with these ads
is that this is a real sort of unveiling moment
for this entire sector.
- I've missed out on a lot,
but I am not gonna miss out on this.
- [Narrator] So, which companies are vying
for Americans' attention this football Sunday?
And what can we expect from the big game's
new crypto advertisers?
- FTX is giving away the time. Their ad runs in Bitcoin.
- [Narrator] Today, watching SUPERBOWL commercials
is arguably as much of an American tradition
as watching the game itself.
- So SUPERBOWL Sunday is the most expensive real estate
on all of television.
If you have a company that's new
and you wanna cement it's brand name
like become the next Budweiser, or the next Coca-Cola,
you need those eyeballs.
- [Narrator] In 2022, each 30-second ad slot
went for as much as $7 million,
up from $5.6 million last year.
- This year, we are going to be calling this the Crypto Bowl
because there are a slew of crypto companies
that are going to be advertising
in the game and around the game.
- [Narrator] Crypto Bowl, is a play on the .combowl of 2000
which saw ads from a slew of internet related brands,
many of which went on to fail.
(bright music)
- What we know right now is that three companies
are going to be running ads
in the broadcast of the game itself,
and they're all exchanges.
They are COINBASE, FTX, and CRYPTO.COM.
- Fortune favors the brave.
- [Narrator] So far, none of those companies
have shared much about their upcoming commercials.
- The Crypto companies have been particularly secretive
about what they're gonna do
with their advertising this year.
They definitely or probably will rely on big celebrities,
'cause that seems to be what most businesses that are new
try to do.
- History is filled with almost.
- [Narrator] Last October, CRYPTO.COM released an ad
featuring Matt Damon.
- You know what? I'm in.
- [Narrator] In its past campaigns,
rival exchange FTX featured Tom Brady.
A fourth cryptocurrency exchange, BINANCE,
is pursuing a more unconventional strategy.
BINANCE will run an ad campaign around the game
rather than buying ads during the actual game.
- On February 13th,
you're gonna hear some of the biggest names
telling you get into crypto,
but they don't know you, or your finances, only you do.
- BINANCE's ads are interesting
in that they will be taking shots
at basically taking shots at those others
saying, "Don't rely on celebrities
to make your investing decisions for you.
Go do your own research.
Go educate yourself first,
and then if you decide you wanna buy crypto,
well, come to us.
And ironically, they are going to be using celebrities
to deliver that message.
- BINANCE and I are here to tell you trust yourself,
and of course, do your own research.
- [Narrator] Even companies that are not directly related
to cryptocurrencies, are making a point
of exploring blockchain technology.
Budweiser said that during the game
it would run an online NFT contest.
For the past two decades,
the brewer has outspent all other brands in advertising
at the SUPERBOWL.
- Budweiser is one of the perennial advertisers.
Always there, they have the exclusive alcohol rights
to the game with the NFL,
and they're gonna return this year.
They're gonna bring their Budweiser Clyde sales back.
And again, they're gonna reflect the pandemic
in a little bit of a way.
They're showing a Clyde-style horse that's been injured,
and then sort of comes back to health.
And basically it's to show America
and its fight against this virus,
and how it's gonna get up off the dirt,
and it's gonna keep going.
- [Narrator] Last year,
some of the biggest spenders like Budweiser
decided not to participate in the SUPERBOWL
because of the pandemic.
- Everybody last year had to be very careful,
because not only were we in like still in political turmoil
in this country and divisiveness,
but the pandemic also was sort of still around
and really heavy.
And people tried to play it safe.
They definitely went more lighthearted.
- Pretty sure, for Rocket Mortgage you can be certain,
not pretty sure.
- I think it's gonna be a little bit more normal
than it was last year,
but I don't think it's that easy to actually craft something
'cause we're still in this really
hard place in this country.