Hearts & Minds: When outrage is the strategy: lessons from crypto’s latest ad storm

A US crypto company is arousing controversy with its ad campaigns depicting the UK economy as broken. The only solution is to invest in crypto, obviously. The advertising authorities have duly stepped in and taken a dim view on two counts: that crypto is presented as a panacea and there are insufficient warnings about the volatility and risks. Cue plenty of comment fulminating at the firm and their irresponsibility. The company’s CEO posts: ‘Needing to update the system and improve society is not a political statement on either party in the UK (some have tried to turn it into this). And it’s not specific to the UK (we ran ads with similar themes in the US). It’s a statement about how the traditional financial system is not working for many people and how crypto represents a way to improve that.’ He adds: ‘We welcome the attacks and any other attempts to censor this message, as it just helps it spread.’ So, kicking off a row was what it was all about, in other words.

They are by no means the first to try this. It’s a traditional marketing trope, to go out there, to gain attention. In this case, in that sense, high fives all around. But it’s dangerous. Ads set out to be provocative but then fail. They are simply too tasteless, too unpleasant, as to make the advertiser seem silly. They try too hard and there is no humour, or if there is, it falls flat. Certain subjects are especially risky – anything involving children, health and wellbeing, and so on. Here, the posters and videos actually are amusing – the picture they paint is a caricature. Plenty of folks, among them those very same ones who are jumping up and down with rage, have written and posted complaining about the state of the UK’s finances.

What you must not do is alienate your core audience. It doesn’t matter what the mood music is, how loud the protest – provided those you want to reach remain onside. Much of crypto’s pitch is difference. It’s outside the norm, beyond the staid, old and tired, it is a ready accessible alternative. It appeals to people who are seeking something else. So, if the stuffed shirts want to react in the way they have, bring it on – they are only throwing more fuel on the fire. No, this one is a clear winner.

Chris Blackhurst is one of the UK’s foremost business journalists. He was previously Editor of The Independent and City Editor of the Evening Standard.