Conversational Advertising: How Coinbase Turned a Super Bowl Ad Into a Conversation

Most ads talk at people. They show a message, hope it sticks, and then send viewers to a page that can’t answer a single question. As a result, attention fades fast, and conversions stay low. Conversational advertising fixes this. It turns an ad into the start of a two-way conversation, so people can ask questions, get personal answers, and act right away through a chat, a QR code, or a messaging app.

What Is Conversational Advertising?

Conversational advertising invites people to interact with a brand in real time instead of just watching or reading an ad. It uses chat, messaging apps, chatbots, and QR codes to create one-to-one, personalized experiences from the very top of the sales funnel, so brands can engage, qualify, and convert customers in a single conversation.

Think of it like a dinner party. If your opening line is forgettable, people quickly lose interest in talking to you. Similarly, an ad that doesn’t invite a response loses its audience in seconds. Conversational ads, by contrast, give people a reason to reply.

How Coinbase Turned a Super Bowl Ad Into a Conversation

Several crypto exchanges advertised during Super Bowl LVI in February 2022. However, Coinbase stood out with a very different idea. While other brands paid for flashy spots with celebrities and visual effects, Coinbase simply showed a multicolored QR code bouncing around the screen, much like an old DVD player’s screensaver.

The ad got viewers to grab their phones instantly. When they scanned the code, Coinbase’s name appeared for the first time, along with an offer of $15 in Bitcoin for signing up. In other words, the brand revealed itself only after people chose to engage.

The response was huge. According to CNN, Coinbase reported more than 20 million hits on its landing page in one minute, and engagement was six times higher than its previous benchmarks. Huwruh was so high that the app crashed for about an hour.

Some called the 60-second ad brilliant, while others called it greedy. Either way, it showed how a simple QR code can turn a TV ad into an interactive experience. It’s also a rare, high-profile example of conversational advertising in action.

Benefits of Conversational Advertising for Brands

Conversational advertising lets brands create highly tailored, one-to-one experiences while customers are still at the very beginning of the sales funnel. Here’s what it can do for your brand.

1. Grabs and Holds Attention

Conversational ads use techniques like chat prompts, avatars, animated characters, and conversational storytelling to catch attention and keep it throughout the customer journey. Because people take part instead of just watching, they’re more likely to remember the brand.

2. Meets Customers Where They Already Are

Buttons, quick replies, and emojis make it easy for people to connect with brands on the digital channels they use every day. This is especially important for younger customers who grew up with smartphones and apps like Instagram and WhatsApp.

3. Builds Trust

When you treat leads as people and answer their questions in real time, they feel more comfortable sharing information, including payment details. Meta’s State of Business Messaging report, based on a 2025 Kantar survey across 22 markets, found that 74.6% of consumers trust a business more when they can message it.

4. Drives More Conversions

Conversations shorten the path from interest to action. As a result, the same Meta report found that 72.4% of consumers are more likely to buy from a brand that offers messaging. With conversational AI, you can make any ad or website conversational across the entire acquisition funnel.

5. Captures First-Party Data

Every conversation tells you what customers want, in their own words. As a result, you build a richer first-party customer database that improves targeting and personalization over time.

Popular Formats of Conversational Advertising

Conversational ads come in several formats, and the best one depends on where your audience is.

• QR code ads: a QR code on a TV ad, poster, or product package opens a chat or offer instantly. Gupshup’s free WhatsApp QR code generator makes it easy to start.
• Click to chat ads: Facebook and Instagram ads that open a conversation in WhatsApp, Messenger, or Instagram Direct instead of a website. Meta’s click-to-WhatsApp ads alone grew revenue 60% year-on-year in Q3 2025, according to exchange4media.
• Conversational landing pages: chat-led pages that guide visitors instead of leaving them to browse on their own.
• Conversational out-of-home ads: billboards and in-store displays that invite people to start a chat. Learn how to make outdoor advertisements conversational.

Why Conversational Marketing Is the Future of Advertising

Conversational marketing is clearly on the rise. For example, a conversational landing page can engage and convert visitors who might otherwise wander around your site with no direction and then leave. In fact, any ad can have a conversational touch, which changes how you engage people all the way from lead generation to conversion.

Most importantly, AI now lets brands bring these conversations to every stage of the funnel. Therefore, both new prospects and existing customers get a better experience, and brands see more conversions.

If you don’t talk to your audience in the way they’re most comfortable with, you risk losing conversions, no matter how strong your content or campaigns are. People enjoy engaging with conversational content, so it stands out and stays memorable. It also builds trust and improves the customer experience, whether people meet your brand on your website or through an ad.

Start Conversational Advertising With Gupshup

With Gupshup, you can create QR code-enabled chatbots that turn physical surfaces into conversational interfaces. You can also run click to chat ads that guide customers through the marketing funnel with personalized conversations on messaging apps, across both physical and digital surfaces.

Ready to make your ads conversational? Book a demo with Gupshup today.

FAQ

What is an example of conversational advertising?

A well-known example is Coinbase’s 2022 Super Bowl ad, which showed a bouncing QR code that led viewers to a sign-up offer. Other common examples include Facebook and Instagram ads that open a WhatsApp chat, and posters with QR codes that start a chatbot conversation.

What is the difference between conversational advertising and conversational marketing?

Conversational marketing is the broad strategy of engaging customers through real-time, two-way conversations at every stage of the journey. Conversational advertising is one part of it, focused on ads that start those conversations, usually at the top of the funnel.

What are the benefits of conversational advertising?

Conversational advertising grabs attention, builds trust, and shortens the path to purchase. It also lets brands answer questions instantly, personalize offers, collect first-party data, and re-engage interested users later in the same chat.

Which channels work best for conversational ads?

WhatsApp, Instagram Direct, Facebook Messenger, website chat, and RCS are the most popular channels. QR codes connect offline media, such as TV, print, and packaging, to these channels.

How do you measure the success of conversational advertising?

Track conversations started, cost per conversation, response and completion rates, qualified leads, conversion rate from chat to sale, and return on ad spend. These metrics show whether your ads are starting conversations that lead to revenue.

Is conversational advertising expensive?

Not necessarily. You can start with low-cost formats like QR codes or click to chat ads on Meta platforms and scale based on results. Because chatbots handle many conversations at once, the cost per engaged customer often drops as volume grows.