TV Commercial Review
Memorable
Effective
Style
Heart or Humor
Execution
Good
The FTX Super Bowl advert 2022 features Larry David. Larry David is pretty wrong about all sorts of things.
On a mission to grow the digital currency ecosystem, FTX’s 60-second spot runs at the skepticism facing its category with Larry David as its “anti-sponsor.”
“We need to meet people where they are—and that means embracing skepticism,” shares FTX Co-Founder and CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, on the brand’s mass-market play. “A lot of people who are now the biggest advocates of crypto once had significant reservations.”
The spot was directed by Larry David’s longtime creative partner on both “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” Jeff Schaffer. According to Schaffer, the concept pitched by FTX’s creative agency, dentsuMB, is what got Larry David—who’s never been in a commercial before—to finally say yes.
“Larry’s had endless ad suitors over the years, from beer brands to toilets. When we’d get concept materials, we’d say: ‘Oh, it could be fun if we bent it this way.’ This was the first idea we’ve ever seen, where we were like: ‘Oh, it’s perfect.'”
“Every invention has its skeptics and Larry is the proud voice of those people,” adds Schaffer.
According to a 2021 Ascent survey, over half of Americans who own cryptocurrency bought for the first time within the last 12 months. Over 20% of Americans, another 56.7M, who’ve never bought cryptocurrency, are likely to buy in the next year.
With crypto adoption continuing to rise, FTX, too, has seen substantial growth outlined in its recent Series A and operational update announcements going live for FTX US and FTX.com’s massive Series C raise and end of year recap:
“What I hope people see is that we’re not taking ourselves too seriously. We wanted an ad that made people laugh and added even more fun to their Big Game experience and traditions,” says FTX’s Head of Marketing, Nathaniel Whittemore. “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. We want to be the safe place for people to explore and ask questions and feel empowered to orchestrate financial futures on their terms.”
