FTX was one of several crypto companies that aired Super Bowl commercials for the first time on Sunday, a sign of the industry’s brisk growth and desire for mainstream acceptance.
In Brief:
- It is a debut commercial for both FTX and David who worked again with his longtime director, Jeff Schaffer.
- David is an antagonist who is not bullish on new inventions, which ultimately is the marketing strategy to promote the crypto exchange.
Larry David made a big debut on NBC right before halftime of the Super Bowl LVI as part of a campaign with cryptocurrency platform FTX in a spot titled “Don’t Miss Out.”
In it, he portrays himself as a skeptic who travels through time mocking inventions such as the wheel, forks, a toilet, a lightbulb, and portable music players.
It concludes with David, seated behind a desk, being pitched FTX as a safe and simple way to enter the crypto market.
“Ehhh, I don’t think so,” he says. “And I’m never wrong about this stuff. Never.”
Embracing David’s hostility is part of the company’s marketing strategy, according to Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder and CEO of FTX.
“We need to meet people where they are — and that means embracing skepticism. A lot of people who are now the biggest advocates of crypto once had significant reservations,” he says.
In the ad, the concept of cryptocurrency is not broached until the final few seconds, and only in passing. The commercial, and others like it, aims to make crypto seem less daunting. But even Mr. Schaffer said he was still a bit fuzzy on how it all works.
“We’re not saying crypto is humankind’s greatest invention. We do see crypto’s radical potential though, so we want to invite people in,” says FTX Head of Marketing, Nathaniel Whittemore.
Jeff Schaffer, Larry David’s longtime creative partner on both “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” directed the commercial. According to Schaffer, the concept pitched by FTX’s creative agency, dentsuMB, is what finally convinced Larry David, who had never appeared in a commercial before, to say yes.
Super Bowl commercials airing crypto-based companies and products have hiked this year with another crypto-related ad featuring Bud Light that includes visuals from the Ethereum-based Nouns NFT project.
