Brief:
- Avocados from Mexico will become the first fresh produce marketer to leverage blockchain as an asset in a Super Bowl campaign, according to a press release.
- The brand, making its sixth consecutive big game appearance, has partnered with Vatom Labs to let fans create a custom digital wallet through its AFM Big Game website. Through Feb. 3, the day of the game, Avocados from Mexico will notify users every time a new digital object from Vatom is released and how to collect it. Objects are acquired by completing particular actions, like sharing a piece of news about Avocados from Mexico or following the brand on social media, per the release.
- More objects collected means more "digital wealth" accumulated, the release said, and each Vatom token enters the user for a chance to win over $30,000 in prizes. Giveaways will also be offered through Twitter, where users can retweet Super Bowl campaign tweets and messages about Avocados from Mexico with the #AvoNetwork hashtag to try and win a designer tiara valued at $2,745 or cash out their winnings.
Insight:
Avocados from Mexico, a frequent big game advertiser, is looking to make a bigger splash at Super Bowl LIV by deploying an interactive blockchain giveaway in the lead up to the game. Beyond potentially helping the brand cut through the noise during an event famously crowded with splashy marketing, the move represents one of the bigger applications of blockchain technology in a consumer-facing campaign in recent memory. In that way, the effort could serve as a broader test of peoples' appetites for blockchain elements in marketing.
"When we conceptualize our digital campaigns, we don't look to the present. We look to the future to incorporate those breakthrough technologies that are likely to reshape marketing as we know it," Ivonne Kinser, head of digital marketing at Avocados From Mexico, said in a statement. "We are constantly researching for new and innovative marketing strategies to help push our industry forward."
Blockchain first bubbled up as a mainstream buzzword a few years ago along with the rise in popularity of cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin and Ethereum, that rely on its distributed ledger-based system. However, like many emergent digital technologies, tangible, scalable manifestations of blockchain in marketing and elsewhere have been rare, leading some analysts to chalk the promise of blockchain up to hype, or at least something that won't be realized in the near future.
One area that has seen more attention of late is the idea of digital wallets powered by blockchain, including Facebook's controversial — and stalled — entry into the space with Libra and Calibra. The promise of winning cash prizes through Vatom Labs' gamified tech could be a way to get more consumers to understand and buy into blockchain and digital wallets as a concept, which could spur more adoption. For Avocados from Mexico, the levers for doling out prizes — including sharing news or following the brands' social channels — double as a means to build online buzz ahead of a 30-second ad that will air during Super Bowl LVI.
Vatom Labs has worked with other big-name marketers on similar activations, albeit not for a stage as large as the Super Bowl. In August, the firm partnered with Miller Lite on a blockchain-based mobile game called Great Taste Trivia. The game appeared in apps, on social media and through geotargeted media to engage mobile users in more than 230,000 bars and restaurants across the U.S.
