I want to see a Bitcoin commercial during the super bowl

[king44444]

I’m not an important member of the Bitcoin community. I didn’t attend the recent conference, and I don’t keep abreast of the latest issues discussed in Bitcoin forums.  I discovered Bitcoin a year ago and have been in love ever since. That is why I find it extremely hard to see it fallen to where it is currently. I would like to write an open letter to the Bitcoin foundation and all Bitcoin users and abusers.

 

Bitcoin is in the worst PR shape I have ever seen dealing with an open source technology. Which, if you think about it, is quite astonishing. Generally speaking, people love open source and what it stands for. It seems to me, that it would be easier for an open source software to be loved and embraced then hated and despised. But, somehow, Bitcoin found a way to do just that. Media beat the hell out of Bitcoin and left a lasting negative impression.  My father says Bitcoin has no value because Ann Barnhardt said, “You don’t own anything you can’t stand in front of with an AK47 and defend.” My sister doesn’t want to know anything about Bitcoin because a twitter celebrity, Kelly Oxford, told her not to.

The list goes on and on with people hating Bitcoin. If you don’t believe me, ask everybody you know about Bitcoin. I will guarantee you that if they have even heard of it, they will reference some, if not all of the following: money laundering, ransoms, drugs and gambling.

We have failed the reputation battle. The Bitcoin foundation has failed. Who are our champions? Where is our positive PR machine? I live in Utah, the state with the moto, “Greatest snow on earth”. We didn’t get that moto because it’s the truth. All of the ski resorts pay an elected third party group to do advertising. In fact, the state of Utah contributes over ten million a year of tax money to this group. This group’s only task is to increase the amount of skiers for the state of Utah. Resorts and Congressmen know that it’s in everybody’s best interest that people ski. The group is made up of elected officials with advertising and business backgrounds. Not one member of the group is a professional skier.

We can’t expect programmers to be advertisers. Bitcoin needs help from experts of different business disciplines, not just technical and cryptography masters. A third party of elected professionals need to be formed with the sole task of improving Bitcoin’s reputation and increasing its users. The group needs to be made up of successful business professionals with backgrounds in marketing. Major members of the Bitcoin community should be excluded. They should also be vetted for a conflict of interest including an automatic disqualification if a candidate owns or is employed by a Bitcoin business. The group needs to be funded by all entities that will benefit from such a group. And by all, I mean all. Silkroad and SatoshiDice I’m looking at you. I think it’s time you gave back to the community that you’ve benefited from.

The entry to Bitcoin needs to be easier. It is still too hard and confusing to the average person to use. Whether you loved him or hated him, it was hard to argue that Steve Jobs was not the master at molding a product to it’s simplest form. The fact that everybody old and young can use an “i” product attests to this. Bitcoin needs a Steve Jobs to make it accessible and attractive to consumers. It needs a Bill Gates to get it into every home. We need to set our goals much higher and not  be content with where bitcoin is. We should be able to buy products from every major online store with Bitcoin. That includes, Amazon, Ebay, Steam, Google, Walmart, Dell and Apple. We should convince every major charitable group including the Red Cross to accept it. I want to see a Bitcoin commercial during the super bowl. I want to see the Bitcoin logo across Tiger Woods hat. I heard that the foundation is going to hire a lobbyist for Washington. Thats great. We need a group to lobby for Bitcoin to the rest of the world.

[CoinEntropy]

Optimistically deluded.

[crazy_rabbit]

Although it's quite obvious you're pretty new here, your heart is definitely in the right place. Perhaps the best advice I can give to you is: If you build it, they will come.


So go build it. It's your future too.

[Daily Anarchist]

I don't think the Bitcoin community is going to pull together the funds for a Super Bowl ad. I think, if anything it will be a company like Bitpay or Coinbase that pulls a GoDaddy and ponies up the money.

[keelba]

Media beat the hell out of Bitcoin and left a lasting negative impression.  My father says Bitcoin has no value because Ann Barnhardt said, “You don’t own anything you can’t stand in front of with an AK47 and defend.” My sister doesn’t want to know anything about Bitcoin because a twitter celebrity, Kelly Oxford, told her not to.

Does your father use a credit card? Does he have a bank account? Does he ever use a check card to make purchases? Does he handle every single transaction he ever makes with cash? If so, how does he pay his bills? Does he buy moneygrams? Guess what, these are all forms of digital cash. I pay bills all the time using my online bank account. Never do I see the money. It exists only in some computer somewhere and when I tell the funds to move, I'm really just telling my bank to make a simple mathematical adjustment to some numbers. Bitcoin is exactly the same way, the only difference is that instead of these numbers being hosted on a single server, they are hosted on many servers with each server verifying those numbers. It's actually much safer than the current methods of using money.

I can understand why some people would want to hold precious metals to someday use as money if the need ever arises. But, until then, we use fiat currencies and we (as a people) very rarely use physical cash anymore. Everything is digital and the ignorant will wake up. They are already starting to. And for every celebrity talking out of their a$$holes about Bitcoin, there are other prominent people talking about the benefits of Bitcoin. The type of person who would be swayed by these celebrities would certainly be swayed by Ashton Kutcher. He is the celebrity front man for Bitcoin.

When dealing with the ignorant sheep, I find it best to appear knowledgeable, state some important fact-benefits, and then walk away. Let them know that you are the expert and when they are ready, they will come around and ask the right questions. Until then, let them be sheep. Don't get into arguments with them. That only makes them want to defend their position, no matter how ignorant and unfounded it is. The more someone defends a wrong position, the more he tends to want to believe it, and that's not good PR for Bitcoin. So don't give them any reason to be defensive, just let them know that when they want to learn more about it, you will be there to explain it to them.

[BitAddict]

We still need some years and really big business interested in spending money here, before we can see this.

[Svennisen]

I can understand why some people would want to hold precious metals to someday use as money if the need ever arises. But, until then, we use fiat currencies and we (as a people) very rarely use physical cash anymore. Everything is digital and the ignorant will wake up. They are already starting to. And for every celebrity talking out of their a$$holes about Bitcoin, there are other prominent people talking about the benefits of Bitcoin. The type of person who would be swayed by these celebrities would certainly be swayed by Ashton Kutcher. He is the celebrity front man for Bitcoin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Stp1cSytifg

[doom309]

ok so a tv ad during superbowl is, i agree, a bit ambituous atm, but bitcoin does need to start marketing itself and advertising to the public if it ever want to go mainstream, its not just going to happen by magic

advertising can start simply enough, newspaper and magazine pages, bus shelters, buses, billboards, eventually radio and tv, and, yes, eventually maybe the superbowl

but it has to start, in fact when you think about it, bitcoin not only needs advertising, but also a very slick PR campaign, after all the bitcoin community is going to ask the mainstream public to look in their purses and wallets, at the fiat theyve been usiing and valuing as money all their life, and consider moving part, or all, of it to "something on the computer" they cant even see, of physically hold, that, friends, is the single biggest hurdle bitcoin has to negotiate in order to become mainstream - its a cultural change

a simple slogan would also help, "bitcoin, be your own bank" something like that, something that will appeal to most peoples inherent dislike of banks  

[ArticMine]

A super bowl commercial for Bitcoin is my books a very strong sell signal. Why because super bowl commercials are very expensive and that money has to come from somewhere meaning either an inferior product, an over priced product or both and consequently a terrible deal for the customer. It is a very good sign that the real priority is marketing rather than innovation.

Take for example the very famous 1984 Apple commercial that was aired in the super bowl in 1984. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3EbwSOpw_A. Easily the most famous super bowl commercial of all time. Where was the real innovation happening in 1984?

1) An obscure hacker called Richard Stallman who started the GNU project and invented copyleft software licensing with the GPL. The led to the Free Software / Open Source movement and the basis for a multi billion dollar industry in software and in services over the then obscure Internet
2) An obscure software company called Microsoft that within a decade would become a household name, the world leader in propriety software and have its products in over 90% of the world's personal computers.

As for Apple within a decade it was on the verge of bankruptcy and basically irrelevant, and even further when Apple became a significant player over a generation later in mobile technology it also became the very same big brother straight out of George Orwell's 1984. The exact opposite of the message in the commercial. An iPad by the way meet all of the technical requirements of the telescreen.

When it comes to super bowl commercials take a good look at the competition because that is where real innovation is happening, also consider that the reality for the advertiser's customers will be the exact opposite of the message been portrayed in the commercial.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Assuming the very best commercial were produced, the next day we won't see millions of people paying a 5% premium to obtain bitcoins to use on a web shop so that the merchant can save 3%. (a bit of stretch, but you get the gist)

But, there is a better option--team up with an established advertiser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3usaGfn7r0w

Take the time to view the 30s ad, then brainstorm to the nth degree. I think we'll all have the same idea.

I'll add more after somebody(s) replies to this post.

This is doable!

[RoadToHell]

Code:

    _    _         _    _         _    _
   (o)--(o)       (o)--(o)       (o)--(o)
  /.______.\     /.______.\     /.______.\
  \________/     \________/     \________/
 ./        \.   ./        \.   ./        \.
( .        , ) ( .        , ) ( .        , )
 \ \_\\//_/ /   \ \_\\//_/ /   \ \_\\//_/ /
  ~~  ~~  ~~     ~~  ~~  ~~     ~~  ~~  ~~

bit
bit
bit - coin
bit - coin
bit - coin - er

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Assuming the very best commercial were produced, the next day we won't see millions of people paying a 5% premium to obtain bitcoins to use on a web shop so that the merchant can save 3%. (a bit of stretch, but you get the gist)

But, there is a better option--team up with an established advertiser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3usaGfn7r0w

Take the time to view the 30s ad, then brainstorm to the nth degree. I think we'll all have the same idea.

I'll add more after somebody(s) replies to this post.

This is doable!

<see the 30s ad to get up to speed> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3usaGfn7r0w

So, what does one do with all those coins accidentally made by the DIY (Dorito) chip maker? Obviously, they're given away to everybody who buys a bag of Doritos. (possibly a QR-code on the inside of the bag linked to a website, whereupon Frito Lays will be able to monitor the response)

What better product to team up with than a chip maker?

As if you need more: Crash the Super Bowl

The Crash the Super Bowl contest is an annual online commercial competition run by Frito-Lay. Consumers are invited to create their own Doritos ads and each year, at least one fan-made commercial is guaranteed to air during the Super Bowl. In recent years, Doritos has offered bonus prizes ranging from $400,000 to $1,000,000 for any Crash the Super Bowl ad that can score a top spot on the USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter poll.[1] The Crash the Super Bowl contest is the largest online video contest in the world. In the 2011-2012 installment, Frito-Lay received more than 6,100 submissions and paid out more than $2,125,000 in prizes.[2]

And, to add the icy on the cake...What fictitious(?) character comes to mind that would make a good spokesperson? I'll give you a hint: His initials are SN.

[foggyb]

Media beat the hell out of Bitcoin and left a lasting negative impression.  My father says Bitcoin has no value because Ann Barnhardt said, “You don’t own anything you can’t stand in front of with an AK47 and defend.” My sister doesn’t want to know anything about Bitcoin because a twitter celebrity, Kelly Oxford, told her not to.

Bitcoin is about freedom of money. Isn't your freedom something worth defending?

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Media beat the hell out of Bitcoin and left a lasting negative impression.  My father says Bitcoin has no value because Ann Barnhardt said, “You don’t own anything you can’t stand in front of with an AK47 and defend.” My sister doesn’t want to know anything about Bitcoin because a twitter celebrity, Kelly Oxford, told her not to.

Bitcoin is about freedom of money. Isn't your freedom something worth defending?

What freedom means to a crow:



What freedom means to a cat:



What freedom means to a deer:



What freedom means to...WTF!

[countryfree]

Bitcoin is a currency. You don't see advertisements for currencies on TV, nor anywhere.
We can only dream of an exchange making adverts, but if they can afford a super bowl ad, it would mean their fees are way too high.

I agree there should be more communication about bitcoin, but no TV ads.

[wheatrich]

Would be a lot better to spend the $ needed to do a commercial in other areas.

People said this about everything new

The internet is just a fad.

lol gov't printed $ is worthless--my gold and silver is the only thing of value.

They're right sometimes, but when they're wrong they're wayyyyyyy wrong.

[spike420211]

from Wikipedia:
Kelly Oxford is a Canadian author, screenwriter, social media blogger and microblogger, and stay-at-home mom.

Op, your sister is hopeless, obv.

[spike420211]

Also,
Doritos != basic human and/or animal rights.
<sigh>, the vast deception of GMO corn and chili powder...

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Bitcoin is a currency. You don't see advertisements for currencies on TV, nor anywhere.
We can only dream of an exchange making adverts, but if they can afford a super bowl ad, it would mean their fees are way too high.

I agree there should be more communication about bitcoin, but no TV ads.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGJ0-khhJP0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBSZhyZjw6s

[Elwar]

Also,
Doritos != basic human and/or animal rights.
<sigh>, the vast deception of GMO corn and chili powder...

mmmm...GMO corn and chili powder...