Crypto.com isn’t stopping in its ambitions to expand inside the United States and has decided to close the year with a major publicity stunt.
The third-largest exchange in the ecosystem, according to Coingecko data, will have a privileged space on all US TV screens in two months, after having purchased an advertising space in the renowned Super Bowl – the country’s most important American football competition – to be held in February 2022.
For the sake of perspective, the 2021 Super Bowl had a rating of 96.4 million viewers, and that number was the lowest audience in the last 14 years. Official U.S. government estimates that 332,396,263 people live in the country. In other words, almost a third of the country watched the worst-performing Super Bowl in the last 14 years.
The Super Bowl is Just “One More Step” for Crypto.com
There is no concrete information on how much Crypto.com paid for its ad space, but according to information provided by The Wall Street Journal, NBCUniversal, part of Comcast Corp., is selling 30 seconds of ad space during the game for about $6.5 million – $1 million more than last year’s asking cost.
This isn’t by far the company’s most ambitious play. In mid-November, Crypto.com paid $700 million for the naming rights to Staples Center Stadium. Now, the name of the official stadium of the LA Lakers basketball team is Crypto.Com Arena. Previously, FTX bought the naming rights to the Miami Heats’ stadium.
In addition to the NHL and NBA, Crypto.com has sponsored the Coppa Italia, the Conmebol, the Paris Saint-Germain, the Formula 1, and even the UFC.
Sports marketing seems to be critical to Crypto.com’s expansive vision. The company’s chief marketing officer, Steven Kalifowitz, said the Super Bowl ad buy fulfills the company’s vision of investing in brand awareness:
“Crypto genuinely is for everybody. Going into different sports just allows me to reach everybody where they are. Super Bowl is just one more step into that, where it’s as mass as you get.”
The Cost of Greatness
Crypto.com’s expansive strategy has paid off. In 2021, the exchange’s native token, CRO, grew more than 1600% from the beginning of the year to its ATH in November.
And getting more specific, November’s monthly candlestick marked the largest bullish movement since the token’s launch, all spurred in large part by the acquisition of the Staples Center rights coupled with a slew of favorable announcements – and a general market price recovery trend.
But beyond the price of a token, Crypto.com’s business model is growing in a big way; in fact, Crypto.Com CEO has his sights set on reaching the Top 20 of the world’s biggest commercial brands within the next 5 years, competing directly with companies of the caliber of Apple and Nike.
And if paying $6 million for a 30-second ad contributes to this goal, so be it.