“We had hoped to crack the top 10 most expensive things ever sold through eBay, and Coinbase’s bid actually puts us in ninth place,” Pearson said. “We had more than 200 bids over the week and transformed a $5,000 video into $500,000. And honestly, it was just really fun to watch different brands and people jumping in to play along—it proves that everyone on both the agency and brand sides want to have more fun.”
Liquid Death, well known for its provocative marketing, had considered buying a spot during Super Bowl 58. Its 23-market regional ad from 2023 made waves and landed on ADWEEK’s “20 Groundbreaking Campaigns That Redefined Super Bowl Marketing” list.
But the brand begged off based on the hefty price tag, creating an alternative in an attempt to “dethrone the Big Game as advertising’s biggest stage.”
Dan-O and Dr. Rick
The startup dropped a purposely goofy video to kick off the contest, which caused other brands to get involved as participants and commentators. Bidding quickly reached into six figures.
Dude Wipes originally set a max bid of $222,222, and Dan-O’s Seasoning countered with $223,000 and debuted its own “Smallest Ad Ever,” selling off space on the bottom of its jar (it appears that $410 was the winning of 33 bids, although the winner wasn’t identified).
Progressive did a mock up of the Liquid Death cases with wisdom from Dr. Rick: “I’m just on the package to let all the parents out there know that this isn’t alcohol.”
And Coca-Cola brand Smartwater, hyping its new canned water, bought a banner ad on the Liquid Death eBay auction page in lieu of bidding for the packaging space. Liquid Death, per LinkedIn posts, said it would have considered Smartwater’s bid along with all others.
The Liquid Death-Coinbase co-branded cases will hit retailers later this year, and Coinbase is asking its fans and followers to help design the creative.
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