The spot, which lasted just five seconds, opened as if it were a car commercial, but then quickly flashed to Reddit’s orange and white logo, which was followed by a message.
“If you are reading this, it means our bets are paying off,” the message read. “One thing we learned from our communities last week is that underdogs can accomplish just about anything when we gather in a common space.”
“Who knows, maybe you are the reason financial textbooks should include a section on ‘tendies’,” said the Reddit ad. ‘Powerful things happen when people are committed to something they really care about. And there is a place for that. It’s called Reddit. ‘
Reddit said it spent “the entire marketing budget” on the ad, which Chief Marketing Officer Roxy Young said was “not part of our marketing plan.”
“But we were so inspired by the strength of our communities in the past few weeks that we united to bring it together in just a few short days in partnership with our agency partners at R / GA,” she told CNN Business in an e-mail. email statement. “I’m really proud of what we were able to accomplish in just five seconds and love capturing the heart of Reddit in our unique and brilliantly absurd tone.”
The ad aired in nine of the top 10 U.S. subway markets, Young said, including New York, LA, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Boston, and Washington, DC.