Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, announced that it will give away free Bitcoin to its fans as part of an advertising campaign during Super Bowl LVI on February 13.
The campaign is part of an effort by FTX to gain a more significant brand presence in the more mainstream audience of sports fans – especially considering that the Super Bowl is the most watched sports event in the United States.
The Right Time
Sam Bankman-Fried is an expert in aggressive and creative marketing tactics, and this campaign is no exception. It’s not your typical giveaway, and instead, it basically relies on luck —and timing.
No one knows how much money FTX will donate – and therein lies the creative part of the campaign. The exchange explained that the exact number of Bitcoins to be given away will depend on the time its ad appears on the TV screens of those watching the Super Bowl.
“We’re making our Big Game debut and giving away the time our ad runs in bitcoin … For example, if it runs at 9:02 EST, we’d give away 9.02 BTC.”
A total of 4 winners will be chosen, and the campaign is available for all US residents (from all 50 states except New York) who have followed the official FTX account and retweeted the FTX tweet alluding to the event between the time it airs and 11:59pm EST.
Sports Marketing Works For FTX
FTX has grown at a swift pace, gaining popularity among many cryptocurrency enthusiasts. The winning recipe is based on a combination of product diversification, good technology… and sports.
FTX was the first cryptocurrency exchange to buy an ad for the Super Bowl. As Cryptopotato previously reported, Sam Bankman-Fried’s exchange may have paid about $6.5 million.
Shortly after that, Crypto.com joined the race by buying another ad space, bolstering its presence in the U.S. market.
In addition to the NFL, FTX has gained a massive presence in the NBA – the US professional basketball league – after buying the naming rights to the former American Airlines Arena, home of the Miami Heats, and renaming it FTX Arena.
And the exchange also has a presence in the MLB —the US professional baseball league— after becoming the league’s cryptocurrency exchange partner. This partneship in particular has been ssuccesful that the exchange is now thinking on expanding even more, leveraging its presence in the sports business. In an interview for Sports Buisness Journal, Brett Harrison, who heads the US branch of FTX explained that the exchange is now trying to go beyond simple brand awareness with its sports deals:
“We’re being told that the amount of exposure we’re getting through the umpires is unprecedented. We’re sort of past our initial branding-only deals … whether that is a direct path to revenue or some creative revenue sharing we have to see unique ideas and unique creative. People need to realize we are a technology vendor, a payments vendor.”
All things considered, it is easy to see how FTX is creating its own paths into the mainstream market, so it is very likely that the exchange will come up with a similar idea in the future. Too bad they used the 12-hour clock instead of the 24-hours one; giving away 20BTC at 20:00 hours seems much nicer than giving away 8BTC at 8pm.