Original Campaign
Overview
The UK ran a series of advertisements taking shots at Bitcoin, while promoting its own cryptocurrency. Let's take a look at areas that missed the mark, and potential improvements.
The Current State of Cryptocurrency
Review of Potential Campaign Improvements
Reciprocity
Various forms of the advertisements were displayed across the UK's public transit system. While social norms tend to push us to respond in the positive, utilizing this approach to compel individuals to utilize the state-sponsored cryptocurrency provides no perceivable up front value.
Commitment & Consistency
Much like return visitors to an online shopping cart, the UK has implemented a plan to push its information across a variety of public transportation options.
Social Proof
“We understood that neither Luno nor the bitcoin market in general was regulated within the UK, and therefore consumers could not seek recourse to services such as the Financial Services Compensation Scheme or the Financial Ombudsman Service.” U.K. Advertising Standards Authority
Liking
Word-of-mouth is still one of the best ways to influence action. However, this implementation used the social situation to unknowingly take advantage of its target audience. In addition, it used this social influence to pass false information to its constituents.
Authority
Individuals have a tendency to follow and respond to a trusted source. The UK's government used this principle to influence action upon a demographic utilizing public transportation that may not be well informed on cryptocurrency.
Scarcity
The UK's government explicitly stated that Bitcoin was dead. This call to action under a false pretense of scarcity directly calls into question the integrity of the campaign.
Negative Impacts of False Advertising
According to the Harvard Business Review, the effect of correlation and causation is confused and many business oversell its brand effectiveness. In this use case of the UK's crypto campaign, it was widely overselling the downfall of Bitcoin. This directly impacts the correlation between itself and its citizens while actively impacting its citizens trust in the government.
Potential Alterations to the Campaign
Change 01: Principal of Authority
The UK's government has nothing to gain from misleading its target audience. Instead of providing falsehoods and ambiguous information, focus on the core facts that are beneficial to its constituents. As the official authority figure, focus on:
- What are the immediate personal impacts from using its cryptocurrency versus Bitcoin?
- What financial subsidies or tax benefits are gained?
- Highlight that its cryptocurrency is backed by the UK government.
Change 02: Liking
Word-of-mouth is still one of the best advertising methods. While the impact could be either negative or positive, using it to spread the campaign benefits could have a major impact. Here are a few ways the UK's government could implement this philosophy to positively impact its campaign:
- Avoid actors and utilize real users of its cryptocurrency to give testimonials. These reviews should be honest and avoid flippant claims.
- Have the testimonials cover the financial impacts. It's okay if they state it was slow in the beginning and picked up later. People want real and a show of real results.
- Be honest.
Change 03: Commitment & Consistency
The state of all cryptocurrencies are in flux. Highlighting or pushing that one is better than the other or focusing on telling its target audience that one is dead is counter to positive results. Having commitment to the long road and a consistent message that flux is going to happen will go a long way to positively impact the end results.
- Outline the UK's commitment to those that move over to its cryptocurrency. Lay out what the benefits are and focus on longterm values.
- Develop consistent messaging that highlights the ebb-and-flow of crypto markets.
- Provide a resource where its endusers can reach out for advice or guidance. Highlight this commitment across all advertising channels
Conclusion
This was a quick look at a failed advertising campaign by the United Kingdom's government to promote its own cryptocurrency. By reviewing a few neuromarketing techniques and approaching from an upfront and non-misleading perspective, this campaign has the potential to be successful.
Even with the few change examples, the impact and response to the campaign could potentially have been impacted in a positive manner.
References
User, G. (2021, July 21). Cialdini's principles of persuasion and how to use them in marketing. Thin Pig Media. https://thinpigmedia.com/blog/cialdinis-principles-of-persuasion-and-how-to-use-them-in-marketing.
Schenker, M. (2021, March 15). How to Use CIALDINI'S 6 principles of persuasion to Boost conversions. CXL. https://cxl.com/blog/cialdinis-principles-persuasion/.
Helms, K. (2021, May 26). UK bans 'time to Buy' BITCOIN ads on buses and underground for being Misleading – regulation Bitcoin news. UK Bans 'Time to Buy' Bitcoin Ads on Buses and Underground for Being Misleading. https://news.bitcoin.com/uk-bans-time-to-buy-bitcoin-ads-buses-underground/.
Aral, S. (2021, February 19). What digital advertising gets wrong. Harvard Business Review: What Digital Advertising Gets Wrong. https://hbr.org/2021/02/what-digital-advertising-gets-wrong.