Coinbase CEO Roasted After Claiming Brilliance for Super Bowl Ad

CoinBase CEO Brian Armstrong was called out on Twitter after claiming the original idea behind the company’s commercial that aired during the Super Bowl last week.

The Coinbase ad in question generated a lot of buzz on social media during the Super Bowl LVI. When scanned, the color-changing, bouncing QR code landed audiences on a promotional BTC giveaway page. At first look, the ad resembled the retro DVD screensaver.

The overwhelming response and curiosity from many users prompted Armstrong to tweet about the creative process that the ad went through. He revealed that none of the ideas pitched by several ad agencies piqued their interest.

Hence, CoinBase internal creatives then went back to the drawing board to brainstorm more ideas. They eventually agreed on producing “one of the original ideas” the team had, which incorporated the QR code. Armstrong claimed that this idea was inspired by a previous Reddit Super Bowl commercial.

In reply to Armstrong’s tweet, Martin Agency CEO Kristen Cavallo, said:

CoinBase Chief Marketing Officer Kate Rouch then chimed in with her side of the story:

In the end, Armstrong clarified that while Coinbase did not collaborate with a conventional ad agency, he would “be remiss not to mention the creative firm we worked with who actually created the ad, commissioned the song, got the clearances [for it].” He then thanked everyone for their efforts, feeling that they were “all one team.”

In related news, FTX also launched its Super Bowl ad featuring comedian Larry David. Having little idea about cryptocurrency, David made for a perfect main character. The ad puts into perspective how one should not miss out on “the next big thing.”