- CoinBase CEO Brian Armstrong tweets about the creative process that the Super Bowl ad went through.
- Armstong gets called out by Martin Agency CEO.
- CoinBase CMO shares her version of what happened.
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:
It was actually inspired by presentations our agency showed your team on 8/18 (pages 19-24) and 10/7 (pages 11-18) with ad concepts for the Super Bowl with floating QR codes on a blank screen.
— Kristen Cavallo (@Cavallokristen) February 21, 2022
CoinBase Chief Marketing Officer Kate Rouch then chimed in with her side of the story:
2/5: Multiple agencies – including The Martin Agency – pitched us ideas that included QR codes for several different campaigns. However none of the ideas from any of our partners were conceptually what we were looking for and remained on the cutting room floor.
— Kate Rouch (@kate_rouch) February 22, 2022
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.”
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