There was a time, not so long ago, when buying stocks online seemed like an act of faith. Now E-Trade, which helped make that particular leap of faith feel routine, is asking customers to take another one — this time into cryptocurrency.
The Morgan Stanley-owned trading platform introduced a campaign on Monday called "What's Next," created by 72andSunny New York, to announce that users can now buy, sell and trade Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana directly on the platform. The spot takes the somewhat predictable approach of situating cryptocurrency alongside previous innovations that once seemed radical and now seem ordinary.
"What better way to show the latest evolution — hello, crypto! — than to go back to the beginning?" said Juliana Cobb, chief creative officer at 72andSunny New York, in a statement. (One might argue there are several other ways, but the historical montage remains a reliable vehicle for this sort of thing.)
Nathan Price, the director, who works with Park Pictures, described the work as "a film about the underdogs of history who had the temerity to embrace the new." The production involved Work Editorial, the color studio Rare Medium, the sound design studio Concret Form and Untold Studios for visual effects.
The crypto functionality is made possible through a partnership with Zerohash, which handles the transactions for a fee of 50 basis points. E-Trade said it would add transfer capabilities later this year, along with features related to retirement planning, fractional shares and education around initial public offerings.
"Our clients' needs are evolving, and they want to invest, trade, bank and plan for the future all in one place," said Matt Jones, managing director and head of E-Trade at Morgan Stanley.
The campaign is being released with what the company called a "social-forward rollout" on X and Reddit, the latter including a display advertisement showing real-time cryptocurrency prices. Whether cryptocurrency will eventually feel as ordinary as online stock trading remains, of course, the open question the campaign is designed to close.
Original story published in campaignlive.com: "E-Trade asks ‘what’s next’ with crypto trading launch campaign | Campaign US"