Meet Olliv, the Cryptocurrency Brand for the Rest of Us

Tech bros suck! Cryptocurrency, well, the jury’s still out on that.

But Olliv, a new player in the space, says it provides crypto for “normal people.” Heck, it’s “for all of us,” per a campaign that just dropped, the kind of stuff we should feel good about using every day.

Developed by Quality Meats, a pair of quick-cut :30s go the “we’re not like other crypto hawkers” route. The spots boast jokey visuals, goofing on jetpacks, pool inflatables and vapid bro culture:

Frankly, we’re a tad skeptical about this approach. That’s not to say the ads aren’t funny. Indeed, it’s superior work in the Barton F. Graf tradition. It’s well done and right on point.

And yet … crypto feels so tarnished, so 2021 in the wake of the FTX fiasco, that, at least for now, it may be impossible to give those tokens a fresh shine.

FTX had greats commercials. It put Larry David on the Super Bowl, for pity’s sake. But the category feels too risky. As a “normal person,” I’m steering clear.

“Strategy-wise, our goal was to speak to the crypto-curious—not the typical tech-bro audience, but a wider, more inclusive pool that might be open to alternative financial options and give them the push they need to try it out,” Quality Meats co-founder/co-CCO Brian Siedband tells Muse. “We set out to prove that Olliv is the easiest, most accessible onramp to getting into crypto, by making crypto totally normal. So normal that anyone can see themselves using it.”

He adds: “As crypto became more ‘on the outs,’ we had more permission to push against the negative/off-putting perceptions of the category even harder. On a personal level, we basically acknowledged all the questions, fears and doubts we personally, as crypto laypeople ourselves.”

Gordy Sang, the agency’s s other CCO/founder, picks up the story:

“Most of the advertising out there for the category felt pushy and/or ‘too cool for school’ with fancy celebs and stuff, trying to almost create a sense of FOMO for the non-crypto users. With the climate of crypto changing, we knew it would be a challenge to sell a new/different crypto platform. So, it felt important to us and Olliv to acknowledge the negativity and concerns everyday people had.”

With that in mind, “Self-awareness and poking fun at the industry tropes felt like a way to disarm the consumer and have them open their minds,” he says. “We basically wanted to bring crypto down to earth, not with a lofty promise of ‘fortune favoring the brave’ or whatever. But with everyday use cases that can actually be helpful in everyday life.”

Can you buy a jetpack with crypto? Maybe I should reconsider my position. It’s not like the dollar’s so hot these days.

CREDITS

Client: Olliv
Chief Marketing Officer: Steve Gradman
VP of Marketing: Elle Wypasek
Creative Agency: Quality Meats
Co-CCO: Gordy Sang & Brian Siedband
Account Manager: David Kaplan
Agency Producer: Cate McManus
Production Company: HOBBY
Director: Beatrice Pegard
Executive Producer: John Gerard, Renee Krumweide
Director of Photography: Sebastian Winterø
Editor: Biff Butler
Post Producer: Chandler Raub
Production Design: Mary Minty
Wardrobe Stylist: Robin Osrin
Gaffer: Wiseman Dinizulu
VFX/Online Artist: Mark Youngren
Colourist: Mattieu Toullet
Sound Design & Mix: Joe Flood
Service Company: Juice Films
Line Producer: Jacqui Beek
Casting Director: Bénédicte Roumega