Why Coinbase Won: Marketing in an Empathetic Future
If you’re a fan of football, or hell, even if you’re not, you know that last night was the Super Bowl. And while I think there was a game on, the marketing geek in me was obsessed with the advertising. Know what I noticed? That empathetic marketing is the win, time and time again. Let’s look no further than Coinbase.
Coinbase’s marketing team made the audacious move to have a QR code flashing on the screen for 30 seconds… and literally nothing else. Like the bouncing logo from your old school DVD player, the QR code entranced millions as they ran for their phones. The result? Twitter and the rest of the world is actually a buzz.
Let’s break it down and look at WHY this ad was so effective.
It’s Honest
There is perhaps nothing more honest than just directing people to your website. In a stark contrast to the celebrity laden entertainment pieces of the Super Bowl, Coinbase cuts through the noise by just telling you who they are. There’s dishonesty in the razzle dazzle, and Coinbase decided to do something different.
They also chose to do it all without a splash page or a redirect! Once users scanned, they could’ve used any number of ways to redirect you in more manipulative ways. But there was no redirect to the app store, no game you had to play, no rigamarole. Coinbase decidedly threw out the conventional sales funnel entirely. The result? It’s the feeling of a firm handshake from a new acquaintance. There is power in this level of confidence.
It’s Empowering
Consent is sexy- and Coinbase does it well. If you wanted to engage in their marketing, you had to get out your phone and play along. By cutting through the noise of manipulation, Coinbase tells you that you’re the one who gets to be in charge of the media you consume. Don’t want to play along with their commercial? Don’t. They leave this power to the end user.
The result? People who do engage feel empowered and excited. If it’s their first experience with Coinbase, they don’t feel “sold”, they just feel the trust of someone who let them decide if they wanted to connect or not. That trust means a lot when you talk about the relationship-building needed to ultimately connect people with the goods and services they need. In a world of brands that still feel like skeevy used car salesmen, this transparency is refreshing.
It’s Connecting
Coinbase engages users in a meaningful way. If you’ve ever played a game for reward points, you know how disingenuous and performative that feels. Coinbase cuts through a lot of that- and does so while still not being another boring ad just showing off their products and services.
In fact, the way they used the QR code shows a lot of audience awareness. Everyone’s familiarity with QR codes has skyrocketed since the pandemic. If you’ve been out to eat nearly anywhere in America, you’ve been urged to use one to see a menu. A pandemic-afflicted nation is united in our understanding of QR codes and how they work- and Coinbase uses this awareness to better connect with their audience.
It’s Different
Perhaps most importantly of all, Coinbase is “reading the room” about class consciousness in a way that is aligned with their brand. They are deeply connected to their mission of a decentralized future, and it shows when they decidedly do something different than any other brand out there.
Rather than telling you all this, they show you. They empower you- the end-user, to take matters into your own hands. They’re disconnecting from the monotony of celebrity endorsements and cute animals. In essence, they’re decentralizing marketing. It is this shift- that towards a more empathetic stance- that will continue to thrive in the future.
So way to go Coinbase and their marketing team for sticking to their guns, being honest, being direct, and living their brand’s identity to the fullest extent. It couldn’t have been easy to sign off on that one in a world doing literally the exact opposite, but they did. And that deserves our respect.
