Coinbase made its Super Bowl debut this morning, with an ad paying homage to that bouncing DVD screensaver that is, of course, nothing but mesmerising. But while the 60-second ad reportedly cost Coinbase $14 million, it also caused its app to crash.
Coinbase took an early lead in the Crypto Bowl (lol, thanks to our friends at Business Insider Australia for that one) with a Super Bowl ad spot that instantly got viewers’ phones in their hands and headed over to the signup page.
ICYMI 👀
Now that we have your attention we’d like to announce that we’re giving away $15 in BTC to anyone who joins Coinbase by 2/15.
Click below for more info and RT to tell your friends!
Sign up and see terms here → https://t.co/fKHisXZJJc pic.twitter.com/SDWUup2Ql5
— Coinbase (@coinbase) February 14, 2022
The ad saw a bouncing QR code – much like the logo of a DVD player’s screensaver.
Only upon training a cell phone camera to the code did Coinbase’s name appear, leaving the company otherwise unmentioned on the screen until the final seconds.
If activated, the code linked to a landing page on Coinbase’s website offering $15 in free bitcoin in exchange for setting up an account by February 15.
But the company’s “Less talk, more Bitcoin,” campaign worked a little too well. It crashed the app.
Oh wow that was more popular than we expected, but don’t worry … we’re all still going to make it! Check your emails if you had a problem and sign up/see terms for our $15 BTC giveaway here → https://t.co/fKHisXZJJc #WAGMI pic.twitter.com/ie7VXPS2xy
— Coinbase (@coinbase) February 14, 2022
Meta thought it would jump in on the giggle:
Hopefully this doesn’t break. pic.twitter.com/nNx4T3XD7w
— Meta Quest (@MetaQuestVR) February 14, 2022
The Coinbase app is up and running again.
We’re back up and ready for you! https://t.co/YPIEt0ryVb
— Coinbase (@coinbase) February 14, 2022
Anyway, while you’re here, check out our list of all the Super Bowl LVI commercials.