He was the first Canadian to be voted Sexiest Man Alive. He’s a favorite among the Hollywood Ryans (move aside Mr. Gosling). He’s tight with T. Swift. His wife has arguably the best hair in the business. And he’s funny as h@ll. 

Ryan Reynolds is also a marketing genius. It’s not just the fame and followers (though that certainly helps) giving him a boost. Like many celebrities, Mr. Reynolds markets himself, but our guy has shown his true colors over the past few years and made himself a marketing force to be reckoned with. Even if you think you don’t know his work, you know his work. He’s not just a pretty face wearing red spandex on the big screen and giving his kids trendy names. For marketers, Ryan Reynolds is officially one to watch. 

Ryan Reynolds: An Overview

Our favorite Canadian (sorry, Celine) burst onto the big-ish screen as the heartthrob, nice guy — playing up everyone’s favorite romance tropes over and over. Ryan has had a lot of success in Hollywood, but making Deadpool on a fraction of a normal superhero movie budget made Mr. Reynolds get creative, and that creativity showed off his marketing chops in a big way. 

Aviation Gin, Maximum Effort Marketing, and Mint Mobile are just a few of Mr. Reynold’s impressive marketing endeavors. Reynolds took Aviation Gin worldwide with creative advertising and made a name for Mint Mobile the same way. In an effort to reinvent the typical advertising agency model, Reynolds put creatives at the top of Maximum Effort Marketing — a move he attributes many of their successes to. 

Work You May Know

If you’re not seeing his funny grass-roots PR TikToks or social media stunts, you’ve likely seen his commercials. The Match commercial featuring the Devil dating a woman named 2020? Yah. That was Ryan and team. Remember the sad wife from the depressing Peloton commercial who suddenly showed up in a gin ad, very happy? That was also the work of Ryan and team. 

And these are just the commercials. Movie ads, social media spotlights, and fake feuds with other celebs (and his wife, Blake Lively) are all marketing efforts that feel, dare we say it, effortless. And that’s the key to the genius of what Ryan Reynolds and his team are doing. They’re making these funny ads that don’t feel like typical ads. They’re utilizing social media spaces and public interest in celebrity culture to plug and pitch in a way that feels completely natural. 

So how can you, a small business without Ryan Reynolds’ millions of followers steal a few of his methods and take your advertising game up a notch? It’s simpler than you might think. 

The Less Sexy Stuff

Ryan says it himself in interviews about his advertising strategy, if you want to make marketing work, you’ve got to be willing to do the un-sexy stuff. The behind the scenes work. The number crunching. The boring meetings. The revisions and the re-envisioning when things go south. And when things go south and you have to put in a ton of work to make the new plan a success, call it like it is, and pretend that was your plan all along (see: Mint Mobile Slide Ad).

When you see a Ryan Reynolds ad for Mint Mobile or Aviation Gin or his latest movie, you see an attractive actor saying something funny. What you don’t see is everything that goes into making that final cut work. So from Mr. Reynolds mouth to our ears to this keyboard to your eyes and hopefully to your brain — don’t skip out on the hard work behind the scenes. 

Deadpool Marketing Madness

When creating the script for the Deadpool movies, Ryan learned that character comes before spectacle. He then turned around and learned that character over spectacle was a philosophy that worked in marketing too. Deadpool forced Reynolds to stretch his budget to unimaginable lengths and turn every dime into a dollar. When it comes to marketing campaigns, you can do the same thing. 

Take your campaign idea and don’t shy away from thinking big because your budget is small. You’ll probably have to get scrappy and think outside the box, but you just might end up creating something real and authentic that people resonate with. You don’t have to be a funny brand to emulate this marketing style. The idea that character over spectacle works better in marketing applies to any brand. People can easily sniff out a fake online. It’s what makes us afraid of Gen Z. So be genuine and real and authentic and show up regardless of budget. 

Super Speed

When the sad-wife Peloton ad came out, it was all over Twitter and social media in a matter of minutes. The actress in the ad looked just a little miserable, and people were quick to call out Peloton’s weird marketing choice. So what did Ryan Reynolds do? Hire the same actress to advertise for Aviation Gin in a commercial that not so subtlely called out the Peloton commercial.  His caption on the ad? Exercise bike not included. #AviationGin

It was smart. It was funny. And most importantly, they acted fast. 

No matter the size of your business, lean into the cultural moments and act fast. It’s impossible to jump on every trend so focus on ones that work for your business. Make a habit of checking in on TikTok and other social media trends. Even if your business isn’t on Twitter, it’s a great place to see what hot topics people are talking about and a great way to find a place where your company can connect on a cultural or pop culture moment. 

Actually Be Authentic

Ryan Reynolds bought Aviation Gin because he loved the gin. Like a lot. He didn’t go buy some random company that seemed like it would make him a lot of money. He started with something that he loved and let the marketing and the madness behind running a business sprout from there. 

And honestly, you should be doing the same. There are a million companies out there run by stuffy old dudes who just want money and don’t care about the product or the consumer. Be different. As you lean into your business, lean into the aspect that you love about it and let that authenticity drive your marketing strategy. It’s a great way to actually connect with people and create something meaningful and lasting. 

And that’s on the marketing genius that is Ryan Reynolds. Now if you need us, we’ll be rewatching The Proposal for the 50th time.