At the 2024 Inc. 5000 Conference, Deadpool actor and entrepreneur Ryan Reynolds said ads should be light-hearted and culturally relevant.
Ryan Reynolds has always loved commercials. They are a quick and impactful way to tell stories. And if an ad isn’t successful, that’s okay. It’s just a commercial, Reynolds told attendees at the Inc. 5000 Conference in Palm Desert, California.
Reynolds was joined on stage by Mark Douglas, founder, president and CEO of MNTN, an Austin-based advertising software company that acquired Reynolds’ marketing company, Maximum Effort, in 2021. The two companies were a natural fit , since MNTN was in a “mission to democratize television advertising, making it accessible to brands of virtually any size and putting it on par with search and social media”Douglas said. The two companies agreed to merge after just three days of negotiations, with Reynolds becoming MNTN’s creative director.
“I asked to be an admiral”Reynolds joked. “That’s not a title in a company… yet.”
There is an obvious synergy: MNTN (pronounced “mountain”) helps businesses, particularly small and medium-sized ones, effectively target TV ads to potential customers. Maximum Effort, the marketing company Reynolds founded with George Dewey in 2018, was known for its clever and timely ads.
One example is an ad that Maximum Effort created in late 2020 for the dating site Match.com. In the commercial, Satan finds a partner on the dating app: a woman who introduces herself as “2020” (referring to the year). Their romance develops to the rhythm of the song “Love Story” by Taylor Swift.
Reynolds calls these ads “fastvertising.” “that move at or near the speed of culture; “They are catchy and grab attention very, very quickly.”said. “Personally, I have a hard time emotionally investing in a commercial that tries to trick me into doing it.” In other words, a great ad doesn’t have to be anything other than entertaining and of the moment.
“A lot of companies think: How do we create an ad that will one day appear on the screens of the Smithsonian?”he added. “It doesn’t work like that.”
In fact, some of the best ads can be done quickly and with a wink that acknowledges that they are selling something. “Too much time and too much money kill creativity”Reynolds said.
Douglas noted that as more TV viewers turn to ad-supported streaming, MNTN is ideally positioned to help companies reach more consumers. The company has partnered with OpenAI, among others, on a targeting technology that uses generative AI to help brands reach the best possible customers to advertise to. Although rumors have circulated about a possible initial public offering (IPO) in MNTN’s future, both Douglas and Reynolds declined to comment on the matter, with Douglas saying only, “It sounds exciting,” and Reynolds adding, “I was going to say nothing, Mark. Absolutely nothing.”
The brands Reynolds works with tend to stand out, especially those he has invested in. Aviation Gin, founded by Christian Krogstad and Ryan Magarian, got a boost when Reynolds became a co-owner and a regular face in its ads in 2018: it was sold to Tanqueray owner Diageo two years later for $610 million. In 2019, Reynolds became a co-owner and face of discount mobile carrier Mint, which T-Mobile acquired for up to $1.35 billion in May.
And of course, as a “part-time actor,” Reynolds recently starred in and produced the latest installment of the hit Deadpool series. “I really wanted to have some ownership in how the story is told.”Reynolds said. If it didn’t go well, he reasoned“at least I would have some responsibility for what happened”. Of course, it did “very, very well” in the end, with Deadpool & Wolverine grossing $1.3 billion worldwide.
