The 2022 NFL Superbowl LVI, once again, lived up to its reputation as the hallowed cathedral for the crème de la crème of US commerce. From the star-studded half-time, hip-hop performances to an iconic Superbowl ad featuring NBA all-time leading scorer, LeBron James, this year’s edition is in all shades, an inspiring ode to black creativity.
LeBron and Crypto.com
But the latest LeBron’s Crypto.com commercial is only a part of a mega-million deal that will see the company fund the advancement of web3 learning in neighborhoods where LeBron grew up. The LA Lakers small forward, who had earlier expressed his excitement about the deal on Twitter, is hoping to improve the impact of his LeBron James Family Foundation (LJFF) through the partnership with crypto.com.
“The blockchain technology is revolutionizing our economy, sports and entertainment, the art world and how we engage with one another,” James remarked. “I want to ensure that communities like the one I come from are not left behind.”
The Journey to Global Relevance
For Crypto.com, however, this is just the latest in a series of aggressive marketing campaigns focused on the global sporting market. Last year, the Singapore-owned exchange platform splashed $700 million to change the name of the LA Lakers/Clippers Staples Center to Crypto.com Arena.
It had also paid popular Hollywood actor, Matt Damon, $100 million for a multi-year ambassador deal that would see the actor feature in a series of advertisements for the company. This is asides from its $400 million forays in other popular sporting spheres like Formula 1, the United Fighting Championship (UFC), French football club Paris Saint Germain, LA City Angels, The IIHF, National Hockey League amongst others. Other exchanges like Binance have also realized the potential for growth in sports investment, after becoming the official sponsor of the just concluded African Cup of Nations football tournament.
Coinbase, FTX, eToro at the Superbowl
At the Superbowl, other leading exchanges had a fair share of the spotlight with Coinbase outshining them all after its minimalist 30-second QR code ad temporarily crashed its website because of an enormous amount of traffic. FTX also featured popular US comedian, Larry David, in a “Don’t miss out” ad that was adjudged the funniest of the night. eToro’s “To The Moon” snuck in a second to pay tribute to the Shiba Inu community. Its central takeaway was for users to discover the power of social investing in cryptos.
