Crypto.com Will Run Its First Super Bowl Ad Amid Marketing Blitz
[Wallstreet Journal]
The cryptocurrency platform is seeking to become a top consumer brand with sponsorships, ad pushes and a big naming rights deal
Singapore-based cryptocurrency platform Crypto.com will run its first Super Bowl commercial in February as it seeks to become a household name.
It is the latest in a string of moves from Crypto.com to get its name on the map. The company last month agreed to pay $700 million for a 20-year deal giving it naming rights on the Staples Center in Los Angeles, which will become the Crypto.com Arena on Saturday. It said Tuesday that it will sponsor Los Angeles-based women’s soccer team Angel City Football Club. And it tapped actor Matt Damon for a commercial that was released in October.
As an advertiser in NBC’s Super Bowl broadcast on Feb. 13, five-year-old Crypto.com will appear alongside marketers including shopping-rewards platform Rakuten Rewards, sports-betting operator DraftKings Inc., Avocados From Mexico and Intuit Inc.’s TurboTax.
Cryptocurrency exchange FTX will also make its first ad appearance in the game after making big pushes of its own into naming rights and advertising campaigns.
NBCUniversal, part of Comcast Corp. , has been seeking at least $6.5 million for 30 seconds of advertising time in the game, up from the $5.5 million asking price for CBS’s telecast in 2021.
Crypto.com’s strategy with its high-profile moves has been largely about showing it is not a passing trend and that its products should be trusted, according to Steven Kalifowitz, the company’s chief marketing officer.
“There’s a lot of people saying crypto is a fad, just the way they said the internet was a fad,” Mr. Kalifowitz said. “Crypto is really the basis of the next version of the internet.”
The company’s various marketing efforts around Formula One motor racing, the Ultimate Fighting Championship and professional basketball are designed to reach different groups of people, he added.
“Crypto genuinely is for everybody…” Mr. Kalifowitz said. “Going into different sports just allows me to reach everybody where they are. Super Bowl is just one more step into that, where it’s as mass as you get.”
Crypto.com Chief Executive Kris Marszalek told The Wall Street Journal in a recent interview that executives want the company to become one of the top 20 consumer brands in the next three to five years, among the likes of Nike Inc. and Apple Inc.
By Megan Graham