One of the greatest obstacles of Bitcoin is its novelty. Because it’s not a company with a marketing department, it remains up to the key industry players to keep creating awareness about this movement. For quite some time now, Bitcoin’s proponents have been spreading the good word around within their own circles – which has limited the exposure. It has been repeatedly mentioned over different Bitcoin forums that everyday joe is yet still unaware of what Bitcoin is or what kind of benefit it has for merchants.
Here enters Bitcoin St Petersburg Bowl, a strategic move by BitPay to promote Bitcoin over a college football match. BitPay entered into a partnship with ESPN events to offer new ways for the sports fan to use Bitcoin. This move is also a great opportunity to introduce Bitcoin to those who haven’t even heard about it. The first Bitcoin St Petersburg Bowl or “Bitcoin Bowl” took place yesterday and it’s scheduled throughout 2016.
While the response from global Bitcoin community was very positive, the real reason behind such peculiar marketing stunt was explained by BitPay’s marketing manager Tony Sakich:
“We want this to be people’s first experience with Bitcoin,” said Bitpay’s marketing manager Tony Sakich. “We want to show the world how easy it is to send Bitcoins over social media.”
It seems like BitPay’s mission of educating the event attendees worked brilliantly. Chris Brunner, president of bitcoin brokerage Trucoin reported:
“It’s been exciting for us to speak to people who are from a slightly different demographic,” Brunner said. “As bitcoin becomes more mainstream, it’s exciting for us to touch base with the world outside with the tech-sphere.”
The aftermath of the first national Bitcoin sponsored event resulted in a social media storm led by several Bitcoin players. The twitter campaign turned out to be a success just during the first quarter of the match, according to Mad Bitcoins.
Tipping virtual beers during #BitcoinBowl #bitcoin
— Jeff Garzik (@jgarzik) December 27, 2014
Hashtag #BitcoinBowl has been trending nationwide. Newcomers who are interested in learning more about the technology have been receiving small of Bitcoins through @ChangeTip – a bitcoin tipping service. Several bitcoin enthusiasts including the author Andreas Antonopoulos and bitcoin core developer Jeff Garzik kept donating Bitcoins throughout the game.
Hope you're all tuned in to the #BitcoinBowl! Nice work @BitPay!
— Circle (@circlepay) December 27, 2014
“I still have lots of tips to give out for those who want to try bitcoin and learn about it. #bitcoinbowl“
Along with physical presence during the football match, BitPay also aired several advertisements showcasing the benefits of using Bitcoin for merchants. These commercials are so far the first by a Bitcoin company to be aired on ESPN, a major sports network that reaches 100 million households in total. Watch the first commercial here:
This marketing move has been an overall great surprise by BitPay during the holidays’s season for the general Bitcoin community. We can only anticipate how other leading companies in the Bitcoin space react to secure a place in the future and get ahead in competition. If you liked this article follow us on twitter @btc_feed
