You might not have used a cryptocurrency exchange just yet, but chances are you’ve seen the logo for FTX—especially if you’re a sports fan.
See all of Ad Age’s 2021 Marketers of the Year here.
The crypto industry had a rocky run in 2021 amid the news of exchanges folding and losing customer funds, along with rising scrutiny of the environmental impact of mining cryptocurrencies. Yet over the last year curiosity and interest about the crypto economy has helped fuel some big marketing moments for FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange that lets users buy, sell, trade and store their cryptocurrency as well as digital assets like NFTs.
“I think any skepticism was about the crypto space in general, rather than us in particular,” said Nathaniel Whittemore, head of marketing at FTX. “We found that we had to do less convincing [of partners], because folks were familiar with the buzz. They are excited to get in the water.”
This year, FTX entered into several partnerships with sports leagues and athletes. The company has brand ambassador partnerships with NBA star Stephen Curry, Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, baseball great David Ortiz, the Miami Heat’s Udonis Haslem and, most recently, Shohei Ohtani. As part of his ambassadorship, Ohtani, a pitcher and outfielder for the Los Angeles Angels, will receive all of his compensation in equity and cryptocurrencies.
In June, FTX made headlines when American Airlines Arena, home of the NBA’s Miami Heat, was renamed FTX Arena. FTX signed a 19-year, $135 million naming-rights deal. FTX also did a Miami-centered commercial featuring the Heat’s Haslem.
“Prior to 2021, we didn’t really have a marketing strategy except to do social listening,” said Whittemore. “[Our CEO] Sam wanted us to do something bigger, and quickly, to become a household name like [other exchanges] Coinbase or Kraken. Someone came up with the idea of putting our name on a stadium, and it ended up being a moment of ‘right place, right time’ with Miami.”
The facility naming initiative didn’t stop there. In August, FTX signed a 10-year, $17.5 million deal with U.C. Berkeley for naming rights to its football stadium, making it the first-ever cryptocurrency collegiate sponsorship in the nation. “Berkeley was super excited, and we shared that enthusiasm,” said Whittemore. “U.C. Berkeley is one of the best academic institutions in the world, and we’re proud to be associated with that.”
And in June, FTX paid $210 million for the naming rights to esports organization Team SoloMid (TSM), to become TSM FTX. FTX also became the official cryptocurrency exchange brand of MLB. The deal included umpires wearing an FTX logo, which caused a spike in Google search trends.
“We had people texting us pictures of their TVs, telling us all they could see was FTX,” said Brett Harrison, president of FTX U.S.
FTX also struck a deal in September with the Mercedes Formula 1 team, which now has the FTX logo zooming along racetracks around the world and on the hats of team drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas. (F1 has seen a surge in viewership thanks to the Netflix series “Drive to Survive,” which gives viewers a behind-the-scenes look at drivers and teams.)
Most recently, FTX did a much smaller campaign that showed up at dinner tables across the country. The company partnered with OpenFortune, which prints ads on the back of the slips of paper inside fortune cookies.
Looking ahead, Harrison said the company has “a couple other ads in the works for upcoming events,” including a Super Bowl ad next year.
When asked if he thinks cryptocurrency will become a part of everyday life, Harrison said, “It already has. If you add up the unique users among ourselves and other exchanges, it’s a significant portion of the population. I think it’s going to be synonymous with the internet.”
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