Coinbase Super Bowl Commercial Taps Into Backstreet Boys Nostalgia – Marking Crypto’s Cautious Return To Big-Game Ads

• Coinbase returned to Super Bowl advertising after four years with a Backstreet Boys–themed karaoke ad.
• The nostalgia-driven spot sparked mixed reactions, with some viewers saying millennials were being drawn into crypto through familiar pop culture.
• The commercial marked a cautious return for crypto marketing after the 2022 market crash and FTX’s collapse.

Coinbase returned to Super Bowl advertising on Sunday, airing a 60-second karaoke-styled singalong to the Backstreet Boys’ 1997 hit “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back).” This marked Coinbase’s first Super Bowl appearance in four years.

According to reports, Coinbase chief marketing officer Catherine "Cat" Ferdon stated how this ad “successfully breaks through the noise. It’s creative, maybe a little controversial.” The ad featured low-definition, retro-style lyrics on the Exosphere in Las Vegas, encouraging viewers to sing along rather than scan a code or respond to a call to action.

Fedron later said, “Coinbase just turned the biggest media moment of the year into a 130M person karaoke session.” Brian Armstrong added about having a great time at the Super Bowl, saying, “Hope you liked our ad.”

With Super Bowl ads costing between $8 million and $10 million per 30 seconds this year, the financial stakes were high. Coinbase appeared to bet that a familiar pop song would resonate with the audience it hoped to reach. “Coinbase really didn’t buy an ad. We bought a vibe, right? And the vibe is, crypto is for everybody. Coinbase is for everybody, literally,” Fedron told Adage.

Coinbase (COIN) traded at around $164.25, down by 0.52% in the last 24 hours. On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment around COIN remained in the ‘bullish’ territory, with chatter at ‘low’ levels over the past day.

Nostalgia, Backlash, And Crypto’s Return To The Super Bowl

Beyond the spectacle, the commercial sparked online discussion for its heavy use of 90s nostalgia. There were mixed reactions among the crowd, as some had no idea what Coinbase is all about. A market watcher posted that Coinbase was “fishing in the deep, nostalgic waters of mainstream attention with a calculated Super Bowl splash.”

Coinbase’s return also stands out against the broader backdrop of crypto’s absence from Super Bowl advertising after 2022. That year’s game was dubbed the “Crypto Bowl,” as multiple crypto and trading firms flooded the broadcast amid soaring digital asset prices.

However, the market crashed in late 2022, forcing major crypto firms to withdraw from the Super Bowl ad lineups. It was a turbulent year marked by plunging prices and industry woes, including the bankruptcy of major exchange FTX in November 2022.

Read also: A Mysterious Bitcoin Transfer To Satoshi’s Wallet Is Turning Heads

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com

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