Bitbuy is hoping Toronto Raptors star Scottie Barnes’ relatability will continue to help its efforts to target the crypto-curious.

The cryptocurrency exchange’s latest campaign has Barnes reluctantly signing a jersey as “Bitbuy Guy” and doling out crypto trade “confirmation hugs,” continuing the practice from the brand’s Super Bowl commercial earlier this year. Barnes once again appears with actor Jared Crowe, who first appeared as an executive in a Kyle Lowry-starring Super Bowl commercial in 2022.

The spot premiered this weekend on BNN, TSN, Sportsnet and streaming platform Sportsnet Now.

Barnes is helping Bitbuy continue its efforts to mainstream crypto, says Binu Koshy, branding and communications director of Bitbuy. According to Koshy – who both wrote and co-produced the latest spot as part of Bitbuy’s in-house ad team – the brand figured it would be more memorable if Barnes actually didn’t like being called “Bitbuy Guy,” something it plans on extending through other creative on other communication channels.

Koshy tells strategy that in addition to Barnes being humble and having an “under the radar” star power, he is a lot like people who are curious about trading in crypto in that he’s not a tech geek, but learning along with them.

“We also want to convey in a memorable way…that we have a personal touch,” Koshy says, something absent from the often faceless international competition.

Bitbuy, Koshy says, has been able to succeed in the tumultuous cryptocurrency market, as Canadian crypto is more regulated and less prone to things like the bankruptcy and subsequent false representation lawsuit faced by FTX.

Those regulations have also opened up the crypto market in Canada, as Binance – the world’s largest exchange – announced earlier this month that it would be pulling out of the Canadian market in anticipation of rules that would make operations “no longer tenable.”

Breaking from trends in crypto, at least on the marketing front, has been beneficial for Bitbuy. According to Koshy, last year, the brand had a much bigger ad spend as crypto was “humming.” When the market took a downturn, its ad spend reflected that, pausing all offline efforts in the second half of 2022. But it ramped up efforts at the beginning of the year, including being the only crypto brand that returned to the Super Bowl. Though its ad spend is still down compared to last year, having more presence than other exchanges, Koshy says, is paying dividends.

“This is our chance to get ahead of them [the competition],” he says, and ad spend is down compared with past work.