Bruce Lee-inspired crypto trading platform invokes kung fu legend in new campaign

Have you ever seen squirrels fight? Of course you have. High-speed chases, shifting seamlessly from horizontal to vertical, giant leaps and kicks from towering heights... who can look away from that? It's some of the best entertainment on the planet.

So it's easy to see why Ad Nut is a big fan of kung fu and Bruce Lee. Combine the martial arts legend with advertising and Ad Nut is spellbound. Now, this is exactly what a crypto trading platform has just done. 

Not just any crypto trading platform, mind you. One in which its co-founder, Sergej Kunz, was inspired by Bruce Lee and named the company 1inch, based on the one-inch punch exercise popularised by the kung fu legend.

Says Kunz: "1inch has always stuck to Bruce Lee’s values including integrity, resilience and a serious approach to every endeavor he pursued.... I hope [the campaign] will help spread Bruce Lee’s values alongside the benefits of Web3 to a wider audience.”

So you can see why the platform made the effort to partner with the Bruce Lee Family Company to gain the rights to create the campaign, with the help of independent creative agency, Talent.

Like a good kung fu flick, the brand film is both fun and entertaining. Bruce Lee is recreated using AI-morphing technology. We see him swinging nunchucks, levitating boulders with a finger, leaping off rooftops and blotting out the sun. The moves and music all evokes a 1970s vibe pulled into modern day times.

And while there may be parallels to crypto trading's use of technology to revolutionise the old world of currency in modern times, the connection only comes a minute into the film when we see the famous one-inch punch of a mobile phone which brings up the 1inch logo.

The campaign's producers say this "serves as a metaphor for the 1inch app’s efficiency and effectiveness. The...campaign emphasises that with the right tools and mindset, managing digital assets can be both empowering and secure." 

This is a bit of a stretch, and the tie-in comes remarkably late. 

Bruce Lee fans will get it, given the company name. Everyday crypto users may not, making the connection between icon and brand seem more superfluous than integral. And that's a missed opportunity.

Because when it comes to advertising, it too is both an artistic and scientific craft involving a blending of preparation, targeting and execution. Mastering them all to a higher level of effectiveness also requires diligence and taking advertising serious-Lee.

CREDITS

Client: 1inch
Agency: Talent
Production company: Birth
Campaign title: Take Crypto "SeriousLEE”
Format: Digital
Executive Creative Director - Eugene Pakhmutov
Associate Creative Director - Lucy Kulibaba
Associate Creative Director - Roman Vydashenko
Strategic Director - Roman Kostuchenko
Client Service Director - Ksenia Luzhnova
Account Director - Alexandra Boettcher
Head of Production - Asya Grigoryan
Senior Producer - Alisa Smirnova

Production company - Birth France
Producer - Hugo Besson
Producer assistant - Thomas Rolle
Post Production producer - Mateo Lahais
Director - Martin Jalfen
Director of Photography - Galo Olivares
Color grading - Mitch Paulson
Music - PAPA Music
CG - Digital District

Production Service Company Thailand - TA Prod

Nikolay Eryushev - Marketing team lead
Valentin Plotko - Marketing production lead
Vitalii Menshenin - Art director
Orest Gavryliak - Chief Legal Officer
Ekaterina Rumiantseva - Head of events
Ivan Tikhomirov - Digital manager
Vladimir Poryadin - Head of product
Vladimir Ivankov - Sub Deputy
Pavel Kruglov - PR lead

Ad Nut is a surprisingly literate woodland creature that for unknown reasons has an unhealthy obsession with advertising. Ad Nut gathers ads from all over Asia and the world for your viewing pleasure, because Ad Nut loves you. You can also check out Ad Nut's Advertising Hall of Fame, or read about Ad Nut's strange obsession with 'murderous beasts'.