QR Code Super Bowl Ad For Coinbase Was Kind Of Brilliant | Mashable

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The early winner for the most effective ad during this year's Super Bowl might just go to Coinbase, the cryptocurrency exchange platform. The company ran a remarkably simple ad: It was just a bouncing QR code, just like the classic DVD logo scene from The Office.

The ad practically begged you to scan the QR code on your TV and see where it led. It was so basic, a little thing bouncing around, changing colors. The 60-second spot was just long enough for people at home to think something was broken.

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If you did scan the code, it took you to Coinbase's site, which was promoting a $15 Bitcoin giveaway for joining the cryptocurrency marketplace. Just The Office scene with the DVD menu, but it only hit the corner of the screen perfectly right at the end.Brilliant.

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There's hardly anything as, let's say...divisive...online as crypto. But even those skeptical of crypto seemed to admit the commercial was clever. Even if you hated it, the ad did its job. It 100 percent got folks' attention.

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The ad from Coinbase actually might've been too effective. The Coinbase app crashed soon after the company's spot aired during the big game.

And just a quick public service announcement. In general, please don't scan random QR codes if they weren't approved for broadcast during the biggest television event of the year. Getting you to scan a random QR code is actually a pretty common scam.

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Topics Super Bowl

Tim Marcin Associate Editor, Culture

Tim Marcin is an Associate Editor on the culture team at Mashable, where he mostly digs into the weird parts of the internet. You'll also see some coverage of memes, tech, sports, trends, and the occasional hot take. You can find him on Bluesky (sometimes), Instagram (infrequently), or eating Buffalo wings (as often as possible).

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