Yes, Bitcoin is a brand. Here is what it means.

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Some aspects of Bitcoin resemble a user-generated mark.

Just as the Apple brand is tech, McDonalds is burgers, Nike is sneakers, and Coke is cola, just like the Bitcoin brand is cryptocurrency.

Whoa, hold the phone! you say. Bitcoin is not a brand. It is a currency. Currencies are not brands!

Well, that’s a traditional way of looking at it. And Bitcoin is anything but traditional.

Think of it this way: blockchain is technology. Coins are an asset on the blockchain. Bitcoin is a brand that brings its unique selling proposition to the blockchain.

To be clear, Bitcoin is no ordinary brand. This is what I call a User Generated Mark (UGB). Because Bitcoin does not have a brand owner or centralized marketing director, it is shaped by a large ecosystem of foundation members, technologists, investors, miners, commentators, thought leaders, d innovators, journalists and more. Nonetheless, as a UGB, the cumulative effect of its branded assets is worth something.

Still skeptical? Consider this:

Bitcoin has a history centered on a movement to right the wrongs of centralized finance. And it has a founder who went on a hero’s journey to solve it (more on this in a moment). It has cult brand qualities. After all, when was the last time you saw someone wearing a t-shirt with a dollar or euro symbol on it? Or see 12,000 people descend on a city like Miami to spend days doing nothing but talking about the evolution and future of the currency. She has an identity. Iconography is as ubiquitous these days as a thumbs-up emoji. It is synonymous with the category. People sneeze into Kleenex, not tissues. In previous decades, we have Xeroxed the pages to make copies. Ask a stranger to name a cryptocurrency and he will tell you Bitcoin. It occupies a leading position in the market. Being a forerunner and dominant player confers significant competitive advantages, including high brand awareness and brand loyalty, resulting in powerful network effects. He has a unique selling proposition. Notably, a limited supply of coins, thus increasing its appeal as an inflation hedge while creating a new form of ownership.

Additionally, what makes the Bitcoin brand so intriguing are other less obvious factors:

Its founder is a pseudonym and disappeared without a trace years ago. I would say the mystery of Satoshi Nakamoto only adds fuel to the narrative and mystique. As we like to say in advertising: When people talk about our brand, it’s a really good thing. Every day, you can find a so-called expert predicting that the price of bitcoin will hit $ 300,000 by the end of the year and another predicting a drop of less than $ 20,000. Aside from its obvious interest to investors, ongoing debates like this only fuel the fire of brand engagement, on the part of both pros and newbies alike. These divergent views get people talking and you know the drill when people talk about our brand, that’s a really good thing.

Okay, so you’re on board: Bitcoin is a brand. A user-generated mark. The next question you might be asking yourself is: so what? Consider these:

The Contract A great brand, at the end of the day, is a promise (a contract) that the sum total of what it stands for and how it behaves will bring you confidence and comfort only if you put your faith in it (in buying, investing, defending, etc.), you will be rewarded. For all the reasons mentioned above, Bitcoin occupies an enviable pole position, especially with regard to the seduction of institutional investors and their allocation committees which, once fully bought out, would represent a real turning point in the race for adoption of bitcoin. To propel this forward, as a UGB, it is incumbent on the most religious communities not only to speak to each other (as they are likely to do) but to the masses in order to elucidate this promise.

The Community A great brand thrives on the passion of its most active users. In fact, passion is the fuel that lights the fire of any brand. So while Bitcoin, as a UGB, may not have a marketing director, it does have an army of de facto marketers (many of whom read this magazine). Collectively, they believe that Bitcoin and its underlying technology is a real force for good in the democratization of finance and have many forums to share this point of view. For them, it is important to spread the word: the main purpose of Bitcoins is not to make money, it is to make a change. And, as with any movement, rubber meets the road when its story can be told in simple, calm terms, using analogies everyone understands.

Founders, Foundations and Decentralized Autonomous Organizations of The Coattails Versus The Contrarian Project of all sizes and shapes have a decision to make: Regardless of their technical or functional relationship, do they use Bitcoin tails or reject it. like a fine but defective product that is ripe? for disturbance? This will of course vary from case to case, but opponents should be warned: the brands with the community, the contract, the passion and the purpose that Bitcoin has are great. While a small group of insurgents may rejoice at the prospect of dethroning the King, most of these contrary efforts will be entirely rejected by the Bitcoin community, as previous hard forks prove.

Conventional Wisdom Dominant marks are generally intended to act in a conventional manner. In fact, arguably, it is the shackles of category conventions that lock them in, allowing challengers to erode or overstep their position. So is Bitcoin a conventional player in an unconventional category? Barely. Conventional behaviors come with time and a sense of dominance that is seen as an impenetrable rift. This leads to a risk-averse defensive stance and possible stagnation. But Bitcoin is still in its infancy and is at the center of a tsunami of innovation. To the UGB community that pushes the boundaries and challenges the status quo, I say, Rock on!

To sum up: for some, the very idea of ​​traditional, centralized marketing in the Bitcoin space is antithetical to category. As with any radical change in conventions and standards, this must be understood. But, even as a user-generated brand, Bitcoin’s marketing is most definitely influencing in ways that will certainly evolve over time. As advertising veteran Regis McKenna said, marketing is everything, and everything is marketing.

Today, as metrics like Reddit Followers, Social Comments Per Hour, Twitter Followers, Website Traffic, and Community Size dominate the discussion of brand health (and are closely watched by investors), there will certainly be other, perhaps more influential, metrics like the roles, megaphones and motivations of decentralized and centralized key voices in the ecosystem evolve.

As it does, you can be sure that Bitcoin will be at the forefront of this development. Because if it looks like a brand, acts like a brand, and works like a brand, then it’s a brand. Whether it’s a UGB just means you can’t expect the same rules that have governed branding and marketing for the past 25 years to hold true.

This is a guest article by Rich Feldman. The opinions expressed are entirely theirs and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

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