FTX

DON’T MISS OUT

FTX and Larry David lead with crypto comedy in Big Game debut.

The next big thing is here, even if Larry can’t see it. Don’t miss out.

Challenge

GET CONSUMERS OFF FINANCIAL FENCES

History books are littered with doubters and skeptics. Mark Twain hard passed on Alexander Graham Bell’s offer to invest in the telephone, certain the trusty typewriter could never be unseated. Heck, analysts and consumers alike predicted the internet would never get adopted by the masses in its early days.

Innovation often sits at the intersection of too good to be real and too real to ignore. That leaves a lot of people in stasis, on the sidelines. A Nov. 2021 Pew Research Center study found only 16% of Americans have dabbled in crypto, despite it having the fastest adoption curve of any new technology ever (yes, ever). So, we opted for an unconventional play for the masses with an “anti-sponsor” to speak directly to consumers sitting on the sidelines of modernizing their financial futures.

Solution

DON’T MISS OUT

Larry David receives hundreds of pitches a year, from beer brands to toilets, asking for his time and participation. For a man known around the world for saying “no,” Dentsu Creative was the agency to get him to say “yes” to his own Super Bowl debut—and his first TV commercial appearance for its gut-busting romp through key moments in history through the eyes of a notoriously skeptic human, shunning new inventions and societal changes: voting, space exploration and the humble fork to name a few.

While not an overt endorsement of emerging financial tech, the juxtaposition of skepticism under the modern context of things that would become beloved creations, like the light bulb, was meant to spark consumer curiosity and self-exploration regarding their finances.

The spot was directed by Larry David’s longtime creative partner on “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” Jeff Schaffer.

Go behind-the-scenes with The New York Times to learn more about the spot.

Results

MOST COMICAL SPOT

Between Oct. 26 2021, and Feb. 22 2022, our campaign secured 6,900 placements across national and local news media amassing 31.7B impressions.

The spot earned USA Today Ad Meter Replay honors for Most Comical spot in the Super Bowl. The long-form version of the spot’s been viewed more than 46 million times since its posting. It generated the second most Super Bowl related tweets of the night - with Pepsi’s Halftime Show being first. Twitter gave the effort “Retweet Rishers” status for receiving the most retweets for a single post of the Director’s Extended Cut of the spot that went live right after the spot aired in the Big Game. And, its entertainment value and craft were praised in a rare sweep of the top four national television broadcast morning shows on Feb. 14: Today Show, CBS Mornings, Good Morning America and Fox & Friends. Even MSNBC’s Morning Joe couldn’t help but play the long-form version on air and co-host Joe Scarborough declared it on air, “the best commercial of all time.”