The 30-second ad, which will make its TV debut during Sunday’s game, highlights the company’s brand momentum that it is “opening America’s financial system to everyone.” The commercial shows ordinary people living their lives and shows how they can incorporate the Robinhood app into their daily routines. The commercial ends with the slogan “we are all investors”.
The ad will run at a precarious time for Robinhood.
Last week, Robinhood outraged users and legislators by banning the purchase of GameStop (GME), AMC (AMC) and other favorites of the WallStreetBets Reddit group that disrupted parts of the financial markets. Hours later, Robinhood raised $ 1 billion from existing investors in a move that signaled a cash crisis. Days later, the free trade application raised an additional $ 2.4 billion from investors – a huge sum that underscores the intense financial pressures suddenly faced by the company.
Robinhood’s decision to restrict certain businesses prompted users to file a class action lawsuit, claiming that the company’s actions unfairly defrauded the market against its own customers. And Senator Elizabeth Warren this week demanded responses from the company for “abruptly changing the rules” on individual investors by temporarily banning the purchase of certain shares.
The company’s blog post about the Super Bowl ad does not mention the controversy. Instead, Robinhood said the ad was created “in the hope of reaching and empowering millions of people” who “felt left behind by the American financial system”.
“We are in this because of the morning run, the midday study break, the early morning children’s song – because we all invest in ourselves every day,” the company said in the post.
The cheerful vibe of the ad, which is costing Robinhood about $ 5.5 million to air during the game, follows a similar manual used by other companies looking to regain public goodwill and offer a mea culpa. Wells Fargo (WFC), Uber (UBER) and Facebook (FB) everyone followed this path in 2018 after several controversies.
An effective apology announcement addresses the “elephant in the room,” said Tony Calcao, executive creative director at advertising agency CP + B, of these 2018 campaigns.
“If you want to get those customers back,” he said, “you better acknowledge that you were wrong.”
It may not be necessary to recognize anything. SimilarWeb data shows that the number of downloads totaled more than 1.8 million last week – an increase of 400% over the previous week.
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