‘Go Where Dollars Won’t’: Gemini dared to dream, but will it land?

A bold creative concept meets a tough media reality — and reveals a lesson for crypto platforms everywhere.

Back in late 2024, Gemini launched a bold new out-of-home campaign titled Go Where Dollars Won’t. It’s one of the most imaginative brand moves we’ve seen from a major crypto exchange — and a refreshing attempt to tap into the space’s sense of exploration, optimism, and future-forward thinking.

But while the creative platform is rich with potential, its execution reveals a familiar challenge: crypto brands often have the right ideas, but struggle to translate them into the right format. Especially when they bypass the kind of creative partners who know how to make complex stories work in the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it world of traditional media.

Staying true to crypto

First, the good stuff.

The campaign deserves credit for leaning into what makes crypto exciting: imagination, exploration, and a belief in the impossible. Gemini paints a world of Martian safaris, de-extinct Wooly Mammoths, and strata-skiing on interstellar ice asteroids — surreal scenarios where crypto, not dollars, unlocks the future.

It’s bold, weird, and unapologetically visionary. And that’s exactly what makes it interesting. Unlike most crypto advertising — either drowning in jargon or drained of all soul — Gemini dares to dream.

It speaks to crypto’s cultural DNA: a movement built on breaking norms, not mimicking them. That kind of creative ambition should be applauded.

The medium is the miss

But here’s where the campaign falters: the media formats can’t support the weight of the story.

Out-of-home is a fast, high-frequency environment. It requires immediacy, clarity, and memorability. You’ve got seconds — if that — to land a message, evoke an emotion, and make someone care.

Gemini’s campaign is built around an expansive creative concept — one that imagines a far-off future where crypto is the currency that powers everyday life, no matter how surreal that life becomes. It’s wild, cinematic stuff designed to spark curiosity. But ideas like that need time, space, and narrative context to land. Short-dwell formats like billboards and tube posters just don’t give them the room to breathe.

And here’s the kicker: there’s no clear signal that this is a crypto ad. The headline Go Where Dollars Won’t is intriguing — but without context, it could just as easily be promoting travel, luxury goods, or some abstract brand campaign. There’s a CTA,  Buy, sell, and store crypto — and it’s legible, but it’s not enough to ground the message or clearly introduce Gemini to a mainstream audience. The logo is present but small, and for a brand still largely recognised only within the crypto echo chamber, that’s a missed opportunity. In a format built for clarity and recognition, brand and category cues need to be unmistakable.

What crypto platforms can learn

There’s a clear takeaway here — and it’s not about the idea. It’s about how ideas are delivered.

Crypto platforms don’t need to water down their message to reach a wider audience. But they do need creative partners who understand how to shape bold thinking into format-specific execution. Traditional creative agencies are built for this. They’ve spent decades distilling complex propositions into simple, striking messages — messages that land in one glance, not one minute.

And let’s be clear — this isn’t about tearing down the work. Marketing something as layered, fast-moving, and ideologically complex as crypto is incredibly difficult. But that’s also why getting the execution right matters more than ever.

Gemini had the right ambition. But the execution didn’t quite match the scale of the idea — and that’s where the opportunity was missed.

After all, if crypto really wants to “go where dollars won’t,” it needs to make sure its message gets there first.