Coinbase Super Bowl QR Code Ad

2022

Date: February 13, 2022 · Place: Super Bowl LVI, NBC broadcast, 60 seconds · Figures: Kate Rouch, Coinbase CMO · Accenture Song / Kargo Creative · DVD-screensaver bouncing logo as inspiration · Tags: Super Bowl, QR Code, Server Crash, Direct Response 01. Bouncing QR Code for 60 Seconds Coinbase pays $14 million for a 60-second Super Bowl slot and runs no audio, no actors, no copy. The spot is a single bouncing QR code on a colored background, in homage to the DVD-screensaver corner-hit. Scanning the code routes new users to a $15 BTC sign-up bonus. The Coinbase app crashes for roughly one hour. Twenty million people hit the landing page in 60 seconds. The campaign wins Cannes Lions Grand Prix later that year. 02. The Boring Crypto Company Wins the Night The QR ad is widely judged the most effective Super Bowl spot of the night. Coinbase converts. The site goes down. The contrast with the Larry David FTX spot ten minutes earlier is permanent: FTX bought celebrity, Coinbase bought direct response. The crypto market is still near $1.9 trillion in total cap on Super Bowl Sunday. By November 2022 it is below $800 billion. The QR ad nonetheless does not become a top-signal meme the way Larry David's spot does, because the campaign actually worked. Sources • Kate Rouch, Coinbase blog, 'Behind the QR Code,' February 14 2022 • Tim Nudd, 'Coinbase's QR Code Ad Wins the Super Bowl,' Muse by Clio, February 14 2022 • Cannes Lions, Direct Lions Grand Prix winner, 2022