Investing in crypto was at an inflection point in culture. While 15% of the US was investing in crypto, the vast majority was choosing to not even think about it. Strategically, we had to do two things to be successful - a) disarm the intimidating, serious, mysterious space of crypto by making a campaign that made crypto with FTX feel approachable, fun and easy, and b) ensure that FTX is the choice when the masses select a brand to invest with in the next 2-5 years by showing up as the leading, trusted player in this new and growing space.

On the cusp of mass adoption, many people will choose a company to invest in crypto with over the next 2-5 years. We needed to create and secure as much future demand as possible, by winning the mental availability of the masses and establishing FTX as the choice in this new and growing space.

The problem was that crypto was perceived to be for the few (not me). For most Americans, cryptocurrency lived at the intersection of too good to be real and too real to ignore. As a result, most people were sitting on the sidelines waiting for the time to be right.

With this campaign, we needed to inspire the masses to get off of the sidelines and get into crypto with FTX by showing them just how idiotic it is to miss out on the next big thing.

Because all the demand in the crypto category is likely to be created in the next 2-5 years, this effort was all about creating and securing that future demand, winning over the masses to consider crypto and choose FTX as they get in.

While competitors were touting serious, esoteric messages of ‘the future of money’ and ‘only for the brave,’ further reinforcing the reasons people are on the sidelines, FTX sought to position itself as the easy, fun, accessible way to get everyone into crypto – by offering a humorous cautionary tale about missing out.

Because we know most Americans are likely to engage with crypto in the near future but only 15% of Americans are now, we set our sights on winning over the mental availability of that not-yet-engaged American majority.

The desired outcome was to inspire this audience to get off the sidelines and into crypto with FTX.

Because our goal was to get most of the US, who hadn’t yet invested in crypto, to adopt a new behavior (invest in crypto), we entrenched ourselves in the study of behavioral economics.

We hinged our strategy on one of the founding principles of behavioral economics - the understanding that at its core, all behavior change is rooted in identity. As humans, we do things because they align with the person we are today or who we are seeking to become.

To provoke a behavior change, we needed to demonstrate the type of person that our audience strives to become (or desperately wants to avoid becoming) to get them to act (or avoid) becoming this person. For this campaign, scrappy qualitative research uncovered that dramatizing the person that the audience didn’t want to be – a person that passes on opportunities – was the most motivating route.

It’s hard to see the next big thing, even when it’s right in front of you. “Don’t Miss Out” follows eternal-skeptic Larry David as he passes on great invention after great invention, culminating in FTX, the safe and easy way to buy crypto. The film spans the spectrum of human achievement – from the wheel, the fork, the lightbulb…even the invention of America. Larry is positive none of them, especially crypto, will ever pan out.

Crypto sits at the intersection of too good to be real, and too real to ignore. FTX believes this skepticism is healthy and human. To meet our audience where they currently are, “Don’t Miss Out” leverages the biggest skeptic of all-time – Larry David. Having him dismiss things that are now obviously great, proves that there’s been skepticism throughout history. And allows everyone who is on the fence about crypto to see themselves in Larry.

In our mission for mass awareness/adoption and to propel crypto into mainstream culture and acceptance, we delivered across multiple touchpoints; consumer conversation volume, quantity and quality of press placements, sentiment in a cluttered category and ultimately - closing the sale.

The acceptance and praise from people and press was evidenced by 31.7B impressions in earned media (most of crypto), the most brand mentions after the halftime show, highest positive sentiment, and 47M views on YouTube. But it was also met with the beginnings of the behavior change we strived for - and with an 130% boost in app downloads, and 5.5x more next day web traffic than closest competitor - we saw more Americans feel the FOMO, believe it's too real to ignore, and take the steps to go from one day to day one.