Industry
FinTech
Scope of Work
Creative Direction
The Challenge
TradeStation, a Miami-based fintech pioneer and cryptocurrency trading platform, was looking for something big - something to set the brand apart from their competitors and distinguish TradeStation within the blockchain space. Specifically, the company’s Chief of Marketing was looking for an experienced branding strategist to create an effective narrative that would help broaden TradeStation’s audience and, ultimately, create a splash. The company also wanted to implement a completely new and different strategy that would reposition TradeStation as a global leader in the crypto landscape. Enter: Octonano who, together with the help of creative partners, SMALL Agency, helped the Miami-based fintech company to do just that.
The Solution
Octonano and SMALL got to work, presenting ten initial concepts to TradeStation, who ultimately chose to proceed with the most innovative, yet unexpected, idea of them all: The Miami Bull.
Capitalizing on the recent narrative establishing the city of Miami as an emerging hub for crypto and decentralized finance, the concept centered around the idea of taking the symbol of traditional finance — Wall Street’s Charging Bull — and bringing it to Miami: upgraded and updated, to create a futuristic symbol of modern finance and a powerful new addition to the city’s landscape.
Octonano appointed acclaimed artist Furio Tedeschi, who conceptualized the machines of the Transformers film saga, and the revolutionary Onyx Forge Studio to bring the ultramodern sculpture to life.
The Miami Bull posed a unique opportunity to build relevance as more than just a publicity stunt for TradeStation, but as a larger cultural phenomenon that would help attract talent and innovation to the city and boost the brand’s reputation, as well. By crafting a larger story and meaning around the Miami Bull, Octonano, SMALL and the extended team who worked on the project, were able to capture the public’s attention and create that “splash” that TradeStation was looking for.
​Results
Working in conjunction with a top PR agency, Octonano and SMALL were able to garner widespread awareness of the Miami Bull, ultimately making the statue a viral success with 628 earned media placements spanning top-tier outlets, 6.4 billion impressions, and a media value of over $22.2 million. Most importantly, TradeStation was able to dominate the industry share of voice, with the company’s media exposure for the week of the Bull’s launch reaching +321,533%.
Upon unveiling the statue, TradeStation saw multi-platform coverage across all verticals including feature stories in some of the most prestigious business publications, including The New York Times, Bloomberg, Forbes, and AP. With an organic social reach of over 42.3+ million on Twitter and YouTube alone, the Miami Bull was widely embraced across all social media platforms and in pop culture, with notable crypto influencers and countless others posting selfies on Instagram and Facebook in front of the statue. The Miami Bull drew in nonstop crowds over the course of the four-day Bitcoin 2022 conference and after its relocation to Miami Dade College, as well.
Tagline
Finance has long been associated with Wall Street and New York’s iconic Charging Bull statue, which has become an international symbol of wealth and prosperity. However, as stocks become increasingly risky, there’s been a major shift in with fintech companies migrating from NYC down to Miami in an effort to tap into the excitement of crypto. All signs point to Miami quickly becoming the world's new epicenter of decentralized finance. The groundwork has been laid and it must now be made known: the Future of Finance is in Miami.
Representing the Future of Finance, the 11-foot, 3,000 pound Miami Bull statue was unveiled on the opening day of Bitcoin 2022, the world’s largest cryptocurrency conference with an estimated 35,000 in attendance. Immediately following Bitcoin 2022, the Bull was relocated to Miami Dade College, where it remains today as a new cultural landmark for the city and a powerful physical representation of the enduring message that the Future of Finance is in Miami.
Creative Direction
