We didn’t see each other yesterday, on Thanksgiving day, and we don’t want to regret missing the opportunity to say thank you!
To you, our beloved reader, for always being eager to learn and grow. Thank you 💚
To all Smart Marketing investors who believe in our company's vision and make it come true. Thank you, Ladies and Gentlemen 🧡
In today’s selection of web3 & marketing news, you will find:
What’s buzzin’ in marketing?
Will Genesis regain liquidity?
How much Google invests in crypto and why
Fake paper wallets in Australia - watch out!
JP Morgan soon with a crypto wallet?
Enjoy the read ☕️
🛒 What’s buzzin’ in marketing?
Black Friday, Christmas, and World Cup 2022 - is there a better combination of public events for the marketers to create a buzz in their campaigns? Coca-Cola got an early jump with “Believing is Magic”, and then, together with Universal, they released a World Cup anthem called “A Kind of Magic”. Gatorade prepared a “The next 90 minutes” campaign with Leo Messi focusing on how to prepare mentally for a game. In a “Generation Fearless” campaign, Puma focuses on FOTs (Football-Obsessed Teens), with young people describing what their football idols do to make them fearless.
TikTok has launched new Audience Tools in TikTok Ads Manager, giving advertisers more insights about the target audience prior to campaign launch. Users can filter for age and gender, interests, video interactions, creator interactions, hashtag interactions, or devices.
Amazon is working on a miniseries about FTX, a company you might have heard about recently, even if you don’t care about crypto. The third-biggest crypto exchange filed for bankruptcy last week, and its infamous CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, left the company just before. The miniseries will consist of 8 episodes and be produced by Anthony & Joe Russo’s AGBO production company which directed the Avengers: Endgame movie.
Deloitte reports a 12% bump in sales during Black Friday and Cyber Monday weeks compared to 2021. Another report by Adobe says that shoppers will spend $11.2 billion on Cyber Monday (up 5.1% from 2021) and $9 billion on Black Friday (up 1% from 2021). PwC reports that consumers will spend $1,430 on average, with Millennials leading the spending this holiday season.
In the aftermath of the FTX collapse, Bloomberg News reported that the third-biggest crypto exchange was on the radar of federal prosecutors in Manhattan months before its bankruptcy. The question is, why did they fail to prevent FTX from insolvency? And what about other crypto players?
One of the troubled companies is the cryptocurrency lender Genesis, which has lost $175 million stuck in an FTX account and was forced to halt withdrawals temporarily.
Genesis is looking for up to $1 billion of funding. Still, the biggest crypto exchange, Binance, refused to invest due to concerns about a conflict of interest. As the tension and liquidity risk inflated, the cryptocurrency lending firm hired experts from Moelis & Company to find a way out of bankruptcy. Interestingly, they hired the same company as Voyager, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July.
According to the report by Blockdata, Alphabet (Google’s parent company) allocated $1.5 billion to blockchain companies between September 2021 and June 2022. The company’s investments include
Fireblocks (digital asset custody),
Dapper Labs (NFTs and metaverse in gaming),
Voltage (DeFi),
Digital Currency Group (web3 holding, owner of Genesis, Coindesk, Foundry)
The reason why Google invests in the blockchain is simple - if you invest your funds in a company, you gain voting rights and exclusive insights on roadmaps and development plans. In turn, Google can influence the company’s future and foresee the industry trajectory to adjust its business strategy. Alternatively, if one of the companies goes bankrupt or invades Google’s business territory, it can be then (easily) acquired.
Last but not least, Google must see the future with blockchain and wants to make use of its benefits instead of just playing an observer. This is why they recently announced the creation of “Cloud’s Blockchain Node Engine” and launched a new feature in their browser, which displays the Ethereum wallet balances upon “googling” the wallet address.
Fraudsters in Australia scatter paper cryptocurrency wallets with QR codes and Bitcoin logos in public locations such as parks, streets, and bus stops. The wallets are designed to look natural and are marked as “paper wallets” to lure potential victims. What happens when someone scans the QR code?
The user is asked to click on the link to access the wallet with funds up to AUD 16,000. Next, they are prompted to pay the withdrawal fee and provide their crypto wallet credentials to transfer the assets to their address. Once the victim sends the money and discloses the wallet details, their balance is emptied.
If you find one, do not attempt to scan the QR code. Please get in touch with your local police or report online via this link.
Despite the CEO’s negative attitude toward Bitcoin (and crypto in general), JP Morgan has registered a patent for a digital crypto wallet. The ultimate goal is to meet the growing demand for blockchain-based operations by offering virtual currency transfers, crypto payment processing, virtual checking accounts, and financial services.
This shows that the global markets expect a push into web3 despite all the negative news around this ecosystem, including the bankruptcy of several hedge funds, the collapse of Terra and FTX, and the long-lasting bear market with Ethereum and other major crypto projects losing vastly in value.
No matter how strongly Jamie Dimon criticizes crypto, JP Morgan gave its wealth management clients access to six crypto funds. Very recently, the bank executed its first-ever cross-border transaction using the Polygon blockchain.
🔥 OTHER RELEVANT NEWS
Smart Marketing Token launched its first-ever voting today, available on STC Wallet.
FTX customer who lost $750k files a lawsuit against an NBA champion Golden State Warriors.
CoinMarketCap launched a proof-of-reserve tracker.
CICERO, a new AI by Meta, achieved human-level performance in a strategy game called Diplomacy.
Cristiano Ronaldo became the first to reach 500 million followers on Instagram.
Shimano's report shows that 47% of Europeans think the cost of living is a reason for somebody to buy or hire an e-bike.
Audi halted all activities on Twitter.
Microsoft launches video format on its Microsoft Audience Network.
About 67% of companies lean toward customer retention in the face of a recession.
Binance USA will bid for the bankrupt crypto lender Voyager
Japan to rollout digital yen (CBDC) trial in 2023.
China offers VR-based World Cup live streams
Trump’s Twitter account has been reinstated - the president is not surprised nor satisfied.
Binance will allocate at least $1B in the crypto recovery fund.
Thank you for reading Smart Marketing on Blockchain. This post is public, so feel free to share it.
🏖 FUN FACTS & MEME SECTION
💡 F1 2022 season ended up with Max Verstappen’s and Red Bull's win last week. While we are heading to a (way too long) break from F1, there is something you can do to stop missing the sound of F1 cars. In this video, you can learn how to generate an F1 car sound out of a Red Bull can 🏎
Very useful. But we’d advise you not to show off on your first date, maybe 😄
🥇 Meme of The Week
OMG THAT’s MY FUTURE😍😍😍 #NFT #Crypto #LUNC #Etherum #BITCOIN #CryptoNews #cryptomeme https://t.co/n7uNzNRA2q
— cryptochka (@cryptoochka)
Nov 15, 2022