WNBA stars like Sue Bird are boosting crypto awareness and fan engagement with Coinbase, enhancing WNBA player opportunities and brand influence.
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00:00Well, we're just 60 days away from what many are calling the crypto election.
00:05With more than $120 million spent on pro-crypto candidates across the country and President
00:12Trump the first ever major presidential candidate to speak at crypto's largest convention, cryptocurrency
00:18exchange Coinbase is taking advantage of the political spotlight, launching the America
00:23Loves Crypto Tour aboard a big old purple bus.
00:27Kate Rau is the Coinbase Chief Marketing Officer and she joins us now.
00:31Kate, nice to see you.
00:32As I mentioned, it's a purple bus implying no particular political party.
00:37What is the message and why five swing states?
00:41The America Loves Crypto Tour was actually launched by an independent C4 organization
00:47called Stand With Crypto, incubated in Coinbase and obviously we really support their mission
00:54to educate crypto owners and voters across the country around the political stances of
01:01candidates on every side of the political spectrum this election.
01:05You know, 52 million Americans own crypto.
01:09They're disproportionately young and they're really spread equally across the political
01:14spectrum from Democrats to independents to Republicans.
01:18And they really care about where various candidates stand on crypto issues.
01:25And that's what the tour is really, frankly, about to help them make their voices heard.
01:30Boy, that's what makes it a really interesting group that balance across all spectrums.
01:35It would appear former President Trump's dramatic shift on crypto has something to do with his
01:39wallet as he prepares to launch his own platform.
01:43But in these divisive times, how do you market crypto to both parties?
01:50It's a great question.
01:51And fundamentally, crypto is a nonpartisan issue.
01:54It's a technology.
01:56And we actually really need it to stay nonpartisan for, frankly, America to continue to be the
02:02leader in crypto over the next decade, which we at Coinbase very, very much believe is
02:09hugely in the interest of, you know, America's continued competitiveness and national security
02:16and a variety of other things.
02:18Again, as I mentioned, there are tens of millions of Americans own crypto already, and they
02:25come from every political party.
02:27We don't see any one party dominate the conversation for crypto holders.
02:34We need market structure, legislation and better regulations for crypto.
02:41And to do that, politicians on both sides of the aisle really need to come together
02:47to pass legislation.
02:48And so we're very much, you know, excited to work with people from all political stripes
02:56to help get this very important technology and really continue its growth trajectory
03:01in the United States.
03:03Well, I think we can all support members of both parties coming together no matter what
03:07the message is.
03:08Meanwhile, you were on the WNBA bus well before the rest of the financial world, quite frankly,
03:15took notice.
03:16Your partnership goes back to 2021.
03:19What was the goal then?
03:20And how has it paid off as the league's popularity has skyrocketed?
03:24Yes.
03:25So thank you for noticing.
03:29We have been a proud partner of the NBA and the WNBA for three seasons and counting.
03:35As I mentioned, there are tens of millions of Americans who own crypto, over 50 million
03:40Americans.
03:41And those people tend disproportionately actually to be basketball fans.
03:47Kind of no surprise.
03:48They are also younger and more tech savvy than the general population at large.
03:55You know, I think the crypto owner is often very misunderstood.
03:58Forty percent of people that own crypto are women.
04:03And so we've always really thought that the WNBA was a critical partnership, especially
04:08because Americans of all shapes and sizes really believe that the financial system needs
04:15an update, that it's too slow, that it's too expensive, and that it's really not serving
04:21them as it should, that over, I think, almost 90 percent of Americans believe that.
04:28And for women, those beliefs are even more pronounced, that the system really isn't serving
04:34them.
04:35So we believe crypto can really offer meaningful solutions in terms of helping update the financial
04:40system to make it faster, cheaper, and more affordable.
04:44And our NBA partnership and our WNBA partnership both really focus on those kind of core messages.
04:52I've been to a crypto convention, and therefore I almost fell off my chair when you said 40
04:56percent are women, because the conventions tend to be 80, 20, 90, 10, if not worse.
05:02How do you reach them and get them out more publicly?
05:05Well, you know, we again, I think a big part of that is our partnership with the NBA and
05:12the WNBA.
05:13We've done a lot of traditional advertising.
05:18We've done a lot of nontraditional advertising and sort of experiential executions to help
05:25people learn about crypto, engage with crypto.
05:28We tend to be very tech forward in how we communicate.
05:32So people actually can participate and use crypto technology as part of our marketing
05:38experiences.
05:39And, you know, that really helps not only tell about what crypto can do in terms of
05:48doing things like reducing transaction costs for people, but it also just shows them.
05:55And we've had a lot of luck with with people actually directly engaging with us in our
06:00work.
06:01Have any particular players in the NBA or WNBA really embraced crypto?
06:07You know, there are many actually that have embraced crypto that have been early investors.
06:15Kevin Durant was a very early investor in Coinbase and has been a longtime crypto advocate
06:21as an example.
06:23And there are many, many others.
06:25We've partnered with with athletes like Sue Bird to help educate both players within the
06:31WNBA around, you know, the crypto investing and how to think about adding crypto to your
06:39portfolio, as well as the fans of of the WNBA.
06:44Sue Bird, one of the greats of all time.
06:46So advertising, it exploded, of course, with that 2022 Super Bowl.
06:51Celebrities like Tom Brady, Matt Damon embracing the space, then, of course, came FTX.
06:56What was the impact on trust?
06:58Does the industry need celebrities, need a face?
07:03It's a great question.
07:04The Super Bowl that you mentioned was the first time Coinbase itself had ever run a
07:08national television ad.
07:10We ran the bouncing QR code, if that rings any bells, where we basically took an Internet
07:16meme of a bouncing DVD logo from the office and made it a QR code that people could directly
07:23interact with on their phone.
07:25And it was a viral hit.
07:27And I think really presages some of how we've approached advertising and marketing over
07:34time.
07:35We don't rely on celebrities or borrowed credit.
07:39We really focus on the core promise of the technology and showing people, not just telling
07:45them what it can do by giving them avenues to interact directly on chain in our advertising.
07:52So, you know, the QR code was an example where, you know, really, frankly, tens of millions
08:00of people interacted with that ad.
08:04And many more, excuse me, many kind of came on chain as part of that activation.
08:11And then we see that we have a lot of different participation with NFTs and, you know, various
08:19other ways that we ask people if they want to participate in ads.
08:23And I can give you some examples, but we really do see that that's that's the winning formula
08:28for us.
08:29I remember that ad.
08:30I remember opening up a wallet soon thereafter, if not during the game.
08:34Coinbase also secured a half a million mini billboards on liquid death packaging.
08:40Edgy water companies now worth more than a billion and a half.
08:43And they do things differently than anyone else.
08:46What were you trying to accomplish there?
08:48And why was liquid death the right fit?
08:51What we when we saw the auction for the five hundred thousand mini billboards on the side
08:56of liquid death water, we just thought that that was such a fantastic opportunity.
09:02So in line with our philosophy of really bridging physical interactions with, you know, advertising
09:10and really kind of hacking different ways of advertising and trying new things.
09:16When you're a challenger category and a challenger brand, you can't do things the same the same
09:22old way.
09:23And so we just loved what liquid death was putting out there and really wanted to be
09:29the first to try it.
09:31What we're doing, we actually recently launched our activation.
09:36So if you go to grocery stores around the country, you, too, can participate in on chain
09:41vision.
09:42You scan the side of a liquid death box where historically they have an independent artist
09:50design the side of that box.
09:52What we've done is we've actually created an online portal with many visual artists.
09:59So you scan the QR code and on the site that you go to.
10:04There's work featured from many, many visual artists where you can kind of mint and collect
10:12their piece of digital art for usually pennies or, you know, up to a few dollars and then
10:19enter to win physical copies of that artwork, et cetera.
10:24And notably for artists, the majority of the purchase price goes directly to them, unlike
10:32a lot of online transactions where, you know, it's typical for 30 percent of the transaction
10:38to go back to the platform.
10:40So it really starts to show the benefit and the opportunity of transacting with crypto
10:47to support artists and small businesses and all types of entrepreneurs.
10:53Another message we can all agree on.
10:55Our thanks to Kate Rouse.
10:56She's the chief marketing officer of Coinbase.
10:59Thanks so much for coming on, Cheddar.
11:00We appreciate it.
11:02Thank you so much.
11:03I enjoyed it.