Bitcoin’s Publicity Offensive at the St. Petersburg Bowl
There were those who believed that BitPay’s move to promote the Bitcoin concept through a college football playoff was an outlandish, if not outright terrible, idea.
There was no doubt, following the events of the Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl, that the idea may have been indeed outlandish, but was also a success in terms of getting Bitcoin some much-needed face time with a public that didn’t necessarily understand the new technology, what it could offer, or that it even existed.
Indeed, Bitcoin went on something of a charm offensive over the week leading up to Christmas and the Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl.
Bitcoin was spotted at a “Battle of the Bands” competition on Christmas Day, and a physical bitcoin was minted just for use during the official coin toss.
BitPay’s executive chairman, Tony Gallippi, was spotted on a local sports radio broadcast offering up an explanation of just what Bitcoin was and what it could do. Of course there was also plenty of advertising on hand drawing attention to Bitcoin and its capabilities, but reports suggest that there was plenty of impact, and particularly on Bitcoin’s primary target market: small business.
Reports suggest that the college football fans at the big event were less than enthusiastic about the Bitcoin concept, and social media tended to trend a bit toward the critical side. However, small merchants—about 20 in all at the event—were actually proving receptive toward the idea of bitcoin as a payment vehicle, a move that might well have surprised plenty of outside viewers.
While bitcoin wasn’t readily available as a payment vehicle at the event—indeed, none of the retail stores or concession stands took bitcoin payments—the reports suggest that this wasn’t so much about showing Bitcoin’s capability so much as it was just getting the word out about the currency in the first place.
NCR Silver’s product manager, Reggie Kimble, noted that the Bitcoin presence at the bowl game and beyond was going to prove an educational effort, saying “A lot of people are interested in Bitcoin and really, the name Bitcoin Bowl has inspired a lot of curiosity from the general public which is sadly disillusioned and asking a lot of questions, so it’s an opportunity to educate.”
Bitcoin hasn’t exactly had the greatest of image with the common man, more readily associated with Silk Road and its marketplace of drugs, guns and worse than with Overstock.com and its marketplace of furniture and shoes for many.
So an event like this, in which Bitcoin makes a push on the mainstream, should be well-received overall and make things a lot better for all concerned. A charm offensive, in the strictest sense, brings an environment of friendliness into play to make people more agreeable to the concepts presenting the friendly atmosphere, and here, we see how one charm offensive actually managed to break some ice.
Naturally, just one such offensive on its own will likely not do much to further the concept, but taking a few of these together—a few bowl games, maybe a back-to-school event at a college campus or two—may just push the necessary charm into things and make Bitcoin a better-perceived topic of exchange.
This is a good start, but at the end, it’s only a start. The more the bitcoin and digital currency community can do to establish its position as a viable currency, the better overall the concept will do. It’s events like this one that will pave the way, but that’s one long way to go.