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Crypto exchange OKX kicked off its first global campaign amid the slog of crypto winter, which has frozen the once-boisterous marketing seen by the digital currency industry.
The “What is OKX?” campaign aims to expand the firm’s brand awareness beyond its de facto customer base in Asia. A series of spots feature professional soccer manager Pep Guardiola, Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo and Olympic snowboarder Scotty James. BBDO New York created the campaign, and the spots were directed by Andreas Nilsson of Biscuit Filmworks.
Separately, OKX told Ad Age that it plans to advertise in Super Bowl 2023, although specific details of its involvement were not provided.
“BBDO is a Super Bowl ad machine. Of course we will be part of the Super Bowl,” wrote Haider Rafique, global chief marketing officer for OKX, in an email.
The Super Bowl, often considered the capstone of marketing events, saw a huge turnout this year from crypto brands hoping to attract mainstream consumers. Super Bowl 2023, however, will probably look quite different as the crypto industry reels from a months-long downturn known as “crypto winter.” Brands across the category have pared back their marketing spending and laid off workers in order to cope with the uncertainty of the market.
“The crypto category, in particular, is in a very different place this year than it was last year,” Mark Evans, executive VP of sales at Fox Sports, said in discussing Fox’s Super Bowl ad sales.
This reality makes OKX’s reveal—the first so far from any crypto brand for next year’s Big Game—that much more significant. The firm didn’t buy a Super Bowl 2022 ad but it has steadily been ramping up its marketing efforts as its competitors slow down. In April, OKX appointed Rafique to its CMO position, and soon after gained exclusive NFT rights to the Tribeca Festival in New York. Now, the exchange is releasing its first global campaign.
“What is OKX?” centers around a near-90-second spot in which two friends try to figure out the meaning of OKX. Their guesses—such as, “A rapper, maybe?”—trigger a series of humorous and increasingly absurd vignettes featuring Guardiola, Ricciardo and James, before the true answer is finally revealed.
The spot’s theme stems from a survey OKX conducted in August that found that less than 15% of traders outside of Asia were familiar with OKX, despite it being the world’s second-largest crypto exchange by volume. (OKX is unavailable in the U.S., but its sister exchange, Okcoin, is available.) To help it increase awareness, the Seychelles-based brand tapped some of the biggest names in international sports—a move that could help draw attention from a variety of pre-established fanbases.
“To date we’ve concentrated heavily on just a few core markets … It is now time to introduce OKX to the rest of the world,” Rafique said in a press statement.
The campaign is digital-first but will see omnichannel distribution, including through CNN, out-of-home activations and an audio strategy. Behind-the-scenes clips of the sport celebrities will also run on YouTube Shorts. And since OKX is primarily a financial service, the campaign will prioritize media that focuses on business and trading communities.
Supplementing the campaign will be a competition challenging creators to find novel ways to share the OKX brand with their audiences. The contest will be on YouTube and Twitter and offers a $100,000 prize pool.
In this article:
Asa Hiken is a technology reporter covering digital marketing, social media platforms and innovation. A graduate of Northwestern University, he joined Ad Age after writing for Marketing Dive, where he focused on the alcohol space and digital privacy.
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