Disclosure: The views and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not represent the views and opinions of the crypto.news editorial.
You've probably heard of some big PR moves that cryptocurrency giants like crypto.com, Tezos, Binance or the now-bankrupt FTX made before the latest cryptocurrency winter hit. This trend will persist during an upcoming bull run.
Industry giants actively engage in expensive mass marketing campaigns, while medium and small businesses with modest budgets are forced to settle for category ads of dubious quality. Both approaches are ineffective due to a huge educational gap and a lack of distinction that makes the big ones much less recognizable and limits the ability of the little ones to remain creative. Without solving this problem, we will not be able to escape the slippery slope that plunges crypto marketing professionals into a brand communication crisis.
In 2021, crypto.com partnered with Matt Damon, who later explained that this “move” was necessary to crypto-com-to-support-his-water-org-charity/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>get financial support for his nonprofit initiative Water.org. The same year, the company entered into a $700 million denomination deal with the owner and operator of Staples Center, now widely known as crypto.com. crypto-com-arena-2021-11?r=US&IR=T” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>sand.
Many solid sponsorships also reached my ears through top-tier media advertisements over the past few years. Tezos reached a multi-tier sponsorship deal with Formula One world champion Red Bull in late 2021. The same year, now-bankrupt FTX partnered with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team. In summer 2022, the largest exchange, Binance, crypto-awareness-421499824684904073″ target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>taken advantage of on TikTok superstar Khaby Lame to educate about crypto and web3. Not long ago, they launched an nft collection with Cristiano Ronaldo (who later faced a lawsuit over Binance ads). I'm not mentioning Lindsay Lohan's promotional tweet about the crypto asset that she posted without revealing that she was paid for it. Or that of Akon (the “Smack that” guy), who promoted TRX on social media and has recently been loaded by the SEC for violating the federal Securities Act.
Simply put, cryptocurrency giants are surprising the world with the money they are willing to spend on high-profile celebrities, whether it be an endorsement, a celebrity endorser, a long-standing partnership, or a one-time deal.
“I consider my followers like my family and I am always looking for new challenges and interesting content to share with them.” — social media sensation Khaby crypto-exchange-famous-tiktoker-partnership/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>fixed in the press release about its collaboration with Binance. While the initial idea of educating through influencers seems great, I can hardly imagine being family to a person who plays basketball with Snoop Dogg and makes funny videos with Robert Downey Junior.
In marketing language, cryptocurrency giants are betting on mass marketing, thus trying to communicate with a broader audience. Such communication aims to work with those who are not currently looking for ways to start using cryptocurrencies, but once they are ready, they will remember the brand and choose it over others. However, this scenario is only possible if a company has distinctive brand assets. Unfortunately, it's not something that crypto companies consider – most brands in the same niche look very similar. Without being distinctive like Coca-Cola (where you can delete the name and still recognize it as Coca-Cola), mass marketing campaigns will not bear fruit. But the most important thing is that due to the huge educational gap, the mass audience will not even pay attention to your mass marketing campaign, let alone remember it.
For obvious reasons, we end up in a paradigm where the massive marketing efforts of crypto giants fail to reach a broader audience and instead only increase brand awareness among the crypto community that already knows they exist. It means that committing to expensive sponsorship deals and initiatives at this stage demonstrates nothing more than the company's high prestige and points to enormously deep pockets.
As crypto corporations struggle to gain recognition through mass marketing, let's look at the persistent problem faced by smaller companies. Not having enough funds to do mass marketing with sponsors like Khaby Lame or Matt Damon, small and medium-sized businesses limit themselves only to their segment and fall into the trap of generic category ads with industry voices and without an STP strategy. decent (segment, targeting, positioning) to make it work.
Influencer marketing has become one of the most promising channels with enormous purchasing potential. Since performance channels impose multiple restrictions on the promotion of cryptocurrencies, it is natural for industry players to rely on them for both user acquisition and brand communication. Although some thought leaders in the space produce high-quality content, the format itself lacks the creativity to drive brand communication.
A standard collaboration is usually limited to creating a promotional segment, recording a screencast, or placing a logo in the corner and a link in the description. In some cases, if the product is designed specifically for an advanced crypto user, this approach may be viable, although competitors will act like piranhas fighting for food in a crowded fish tank. But let's say you have a solution for a broader audience with little to no crypto experience. In that case, you won't have the opportunity to talk to them for one reason: there is an educational gap that will cut off quality channels and opportunities for creative execution and lock you inside the crypto bubble with fiercely competing rivals and categories. ads that are all the same. Add in a lack of distinctiveness and a rise of “innovative” startups with no “competitors” at the top, and you'll see things getting worse with every looming bull run.
There are two main marketing problems that would disappear if the educational gap were reduced.
1. Marketers would improve the quality of brand communication within the industry.
Several unfortunate factors plunged the industry into a brand communication crisis, as due to the educational gap, the crypto universe is falling short of opportunities for creative execution compared to other sectors. Micro and medium influencers with a large, loyal audience and a knack for creativity would be instrumental in crafting creative commercials and popularizing digital assets. However, they are mostly out of reach for crypto startups, mainly due to the existing gap in education and reputation issues that the crypto industry is prone to.
According to Kantar study Advertising profitability, brand size and engagement boost profit by 18.0, while creative execution gives a boost of 12.0. Meanwhile, a precisely chosen target audience produces a profitability increase of only 1.10. Research shows that without creativity and effective brand communication, smaller businesses are deprived of the tools to make a breakthrough in user acquisition and retention, let alone drive cryptocurrency adoption.
With a wealth of creative delivery options, quality standards for niche industry voices will also be high, as brands will have more options to choose from and access to a broader community ready to listen. For now, opinion leaders within the crypto domain are not very worried about the competition, as due to strict advertising policies, it is becoming more complicated to start a new crypto channel. At the same time, the quality of the content produced and the formation of prices leave much to be desired.
2. With the reduction of the educational gap, marketing would have a positive impact on popularizing digital assets among the mass audience.
For the conservative majority who are threatened by anything new, it is crucial to form a sense of belonging and a safer environment through much more personalized communication than that of a world-renowned celebrity or a Khaby Lame-type influencer (and much more least someone from the crypto bubble). can grant them.
An average user is more likely to believe a travel or lifestyle blogger, a local entrepreneur, or an opinion leader whose social status, income, and way of life are closer to their own. Due to the scarcity of channels caused by the educational gap, our ability to popularize cryptocurrencies and make them mainstream is limited. People need to know it from those they trust and align with. If we solve the problem of the education gap, we will build the bridge between a mass audience and the crypto world and encourage faster mass adoption of cryptocurrencies.
As long as the gap exists between the tech-savvy crypto community and the mass audience, the problem will prevail. The industry must focus on addressing these issues not only to spur faster adoption of the technology, but also to provide businesses and marketers with tools to make cryptocurrencies appear more visible and less intimidating to a broader audience. The more we invest in education, the more we will benefit in the future. The more brands focus on providing their audiences with high-quality information, the faster we will speak the same language.
