Crypto ads nowhere to be seen at the 2023 Super Bowl

Important takeaways

• Crypto Super Bowl ads were noticeable by their absence this past weekend after a bumper 2022 crop
• The crypto market has been subject to trials and tribulations over the past 12 months, which has affected advertising costs
• That didn’t stop the likes of Netflix and Workday from producing big budget ads to represent the tech sector

The 57th Super Bowl took place over the weekend, bringing us plenty of celebrities and the very best ads marketing teams have to offer.

But there was one noticeable difference this year: there wasn’t even a whisper of crypto in a single ad. The closest we got was an NFT giveaway, while the rest focused on more traditional advertising.

This is a big departure from last year when several of the top crypto brands dominated the ether. But that’s no real surprise, given the repeated crashes and dramas cryptocurrencies have experienced over the past 12 months.

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What happened in last year’s Super Bowl?

The 56th Super Bowl saw so many crypto ads run that it was jokingly called the “Crypto Bowl”. MediaRadar estimates the total amount crypto companies have spent on Super Bowl ads at $54 million.

Larry David was the star of the FTX ad, claiming great inventions throughout history as useless, before placing the crypto exchange between the wheel and the light bulb.

Lebron James campaigned for Crypto.com where he talked to his younger self about taking chances, while eToro’s ad was all about social investing.

But for all the fancy endorsements and big-budget productions, it was Coinbase that took the crown for the most memorable crypto ad. Their QR code bouncing around the screen linked to the Coinbase website still has people talking a year later.

Why were there no crypto ads this year?

The reality couldn’t look more different since these crypto ads were aired. Since the last Super Bowl, the crypto market has crashed. Bitcoin lost 60% of its value while the market as a whole had $2 billion wiped out.

The same companies that flew high with expensive Super Bowl ads have now had to downsize and lay off employees. Crypto.com cut a fifth of its workforce, while Coinbase had laid off over 2,000 employees in two separate rounds of cuts.

Any company that wanted to buckle down and weather the storm wasn’t exactly keen on paying the $6-7m fee for a 30-second slot. According to Mark Evans, Fox Sports’ vice president of ad sales, four crypto companies had been in line to take ad space but pulled out.

But it doesn’t help that crypto hasn’t been without scandal.

The highly publicized collapse of FTX cost some users their entire savings, crashed the market again and left its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, indicted for fraud. The company had been booked to repeat its Super Bowl success in 2022 this year before it filed for bankruptcy.

As a result, Larry David is now being sued along with a number of other celebrities who have previously endorsed FTX. It’s hardly an appealing option for anyone looking to get paid to star in a crypto ad.

What were the standout ads for the 2023 Super Bowl?

Despite the lack of crypto ads this year, there were still outstanding displays from some of the world’s biggest brands. Let’s take a deeper dive into some of the more memorable ones.

Netflix

The electric giant, which has been going through its own troubles in the economic downturn, has partnered with General Motors (GM) to use the range of electric vehicles in Netflix movies and TV series.

This pairing was well shown in their Super Bowl ad, with Will Ferrell going through Netflix’s various popular TV shows like Stranger Things, Squid Game and Bridgerton about how an EV could (or couldn’t, in the latter case) be used.

Netflix shares are up 3%, while GM has fallen slightly by 1.5%.

Workday

The software company laid off 3% of its employees at the end of January, but that didn’t stop it from pulling out the big guns for its Superbowl ad. Ozzy Osbourne, Joan Jett and Paul Stanley all joined the campaign to “stop calling managers rock stars”.

It’s a much-needed sentiment, but the timing was bad. Firing workers after blaming the economic downturn, then spending megabucks on a one-minute Super Bowl ad now rings a little hollow.

Limit Break

While there were no strictly crypto-related ads at the Super Bowl this year, that didn’t stop NFTs from getting in on the action. Blockchain gaming company Limit Break got in on the QR code hype, which led to the startup’s DigiDagaku NFT collection.

The first 10,000 people who scanned could stamp the NFT for free. Considering the value of the collectible skyrocketed after the ad, there’s no doubt that the Super Bowl effect could be a much-needed boost for Web3.

Keyboard

Customer intelligence platform Dialpad, which uses AI to manage contact centers, meetings and sales, brought artificial intelligence to the Super Bowl this year.

With a plethora of AI pop culture references and Easter eggs, the ad was designed to celebrate what has come before in AI, heralding the future of machine learning at work and in our everyday lives.

Special mention: Rihanna

Yep, we’re counting her here because the show was a masterclass in marketing (and a great way to avoid the advertising fee). Performers don’t usually get paid for their shows, so the pop star, who hasn’t performed live in five years, took every chance to capitalize on the limelight.

Before the show, Rihanna’s clothing line Savage x Fenty and makeup line Fenty Beauty released their Super Bowl collections for fans. Standout products were the football-shaped make-up sponge and the ‘Rihanna concert interrupted by a football game, weird but whatever’ slogan t-shirt, which celebrity friends sported on the night.

The Fenty Beauty blotting powder compact appeared halfway through the performance, which ended up trending on Twitter, while her dancers wore clothes from her Savage x Fenty line.

The bottom line

After an impressive year in 2022, the 57th Super Bowl was a crypto wasteland. A mix of the crypto winter and the FTX scandal is to blame – especially when the stars of last year’s Super Bowl crypto ads are now in the crosshairs.

It’s enough to make any investor’s head spin about what to do next. Fortunately, you can rely on Q.ai’s Crypto Kit to take the guesswork out of which crypto to buy. With the kit, you get a diverse set of exchange-traded trusts that give you access to crypto without hassle.

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