In 2021, FTX had a problem common to every crypto platform: the product was real, but nobody trusted it yet. Their goal wasn't just awareness — it was legitimacy. They wanted to be the brand that made crypto safe for everyone.

To do that, they needed icons. They had two already: Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen, both investors, both willing to put their names behind the vision.

The campaign launched in the first NFL game of the season, driving almost half a million searches for FTX within minutes. The second film was trending on Twitter within a month. The press that followed wasn't ad industry coverage — it was the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, ESPN, ABC, and the Hollywood Reporter. Publications that don't normally cover advertising covered this one because it had crossed into something larger.

A fact later confirmed when the hype, the celebrity, and the breathless optimism about crypto's future crashed and were parodied across an entire episode of South Park.

FTX's goal of becoming iconic was accomplished. Just not entirely in the way any of us planned.