What Ryan Reynolds Can Teach Us About Content Marketing

One doesn’t have to be a content marketer to appreciate the genius behind some of the work that Ryan Reynolds' marketing agency Maximum Effort is putting out, from movie promos to brand campaigns for companies like Aviation Gin and Mint Mobile.?

While he may have used his Hollywood cache as a strong launching pad, there are a lot of celebrities out there—actors and comedians alike—who don’t manage to draw in audiences the way Ryan Reynolds does. His unique brand of witty, self-effacing marketing is what keeps his companies strong and competitive in what can largely be quite an unforgiving space.

In many ways Ryan Reynolds is totally cookie cutter: a good looking, white male with a ton of privilege who scores a few extra brownie points for being Canadian. Yet, people love what he’s doing. I love what he’s doing. So I asked myself, Why? What can we learn from what he and his brands do so well?

I’ve attempted to distill what I think are the keys to his marketing success. Here goes!

1. Know Thyself

Ryan’s brands are self-aware, which means they’re honest.

Ryan knows who he is and he knows what he’s doing: He’s a celebrity personality who’s trying to sell stuff. But he doesn’t hide this fact. In fact, he celebrates it (just take a look at his agency’s “Aboot” page). There’s a huge strength in showing your cards in order to build an honest, trustworthy reputation.

A great example of this in action is Tourism Oregon’s Slightly Exaggerated campaign.. It doesn’t hide what all destination brands are trying to do best—show the most captivating of their offerings even if that sometimes takes a lot of professional photographers and videographers (or in this case, animators) to capture. It also proves that sometimes the most creative thing a brand can do is be real (or in this case, and ironically, surreal). Another great example? Inspire Iceland's "Icelandverse" where the destination brand doubles-down on the advantages travelling has over VR. In marketing, honesty is admitting the constraints of your field and not letting your business goals squash your integrity.

How can we be “more real” and self-aware in our marketing efforts? What are opportunities to engage with customers whereby the goal isn't led by our business agenda but rather by the goal of being real? Sometimes the attitude with which you enter a creative challenge makes all the difference.

Sometimes the most creative thing a brand can do is be real.

2. Know Your Audience

Ryan’s brands are socially-aware, which means they are creative and timely.

In the world of online media, things move fast. To be seen as socially responsible, you have to be willing to respond quickly because silence and delay can be interpreted as avoidance or ignorance, while taking too much lead from others can be seen as lacking thought or heart.?

Many companies have followed the tide, like pausing ads during Facebook boycotts and making public statements in the wake of the anti-racist movement about their evolving DEI efforts. We know the time and the resources that moves like that take, especially for large, complex organizations and companies—and they’re always worth it. What if we took an active approach more often, though?

Sometimes being socially-aware isn’t just about having a stance on a big movement and getting political. It can also mean being “on the pulse” of things. Like for instance, Ryan Reynolds wanting to bring Mint Mobile to Canada; this isn’t just a ploy to expand the market out of geographic convenience; it touches on a long-held issue by Canadians with telecom monopolies and shows us he understands our social sphere. In tourism, take for example that “Icelandverse” video I mentioned earlier; it was shared less than 2 weeks after Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta announcement. The video went viral not only because it was creative, but because it was timely. ??

There's nothing wrong with thinking small if it means it'll get done.

While you may not always be first on the scene, perhaps there’s an opportunity to look at what sometimes delays your work—is it something imbedded in your planning or approval processes? Are you spending time doing something else that eats time but keeps getting blocked? Let's ask ourselves: How can our content marketing efforts be more nimble? What’s the next “trend” that we can get ahead of, or a current trend that could be seen in a new light??

Okay, so we have an idea. But what good is it, if it isn’t viable? How do we take that idea and execute on it quickly? Maybe it doesn’t have to be a major campaign tagline with all the bells and whistles. Maybe it’s an eye-catching graphic for Pinterest that speaks to one of the new cultural trends of the year or a subject line in an upcoming consumer email? There's nothing wrong with thinking small if it means it'll get done.

The attitude with which you enter a creative challenge makes all the difference.

3. Know Your Competition

Ryan’s brands are self-assured, which means they benefit from competition.

Ryan Reynolds has had a decade-long public “feud” with his rival Hugh Jackman, a feud they’ve both used to support charities (read about the history here). Ryan R. has also been known to throw shade at Mint Mobile competitors AT&T and Verizon (like in this Tweet). Being able to publicly dispute and share your mind, particularly against big competitors, demonstrates confidence, which to some degree instills others’ confidence in you.

Think about your competitors and consider how you can use them to tell your story. Give kudos where it's due and lean into your strengths with pride. Competitiveness doesn't have to be combative.

Give kudos where it's due and lean into your strengths with pride.

4. Know Your Limitations

Ryan Reynolds is filthy rich, which makes content marketing for his brands easy.

Okay, this is slightly in jest, but only slightly. It’s easy to argue that Ryan Reynolds has a lot going in his favour that we don’t—Everything the man touches seems to turn to gold. Can’t we just hire his agency?

We know that big marketing campaigns demand big advertising budgets that not all companies have. But when you realize that Mint Mobile is a small fish in the world of American telecom, you realize that money (and “ease”) is relative. Not every company can afford a full-page ad in The WSJ during the most notoriously expensive marketing event on the planet like Mint Mobile can, but every company can find its creative equivalent of a Super Bowl print ad: Something more economical and unexpected.?

Now, more than ever, brands need to be thinking about their organic (read: unpaid) engagement, because paying for eyeballs is expensive and not sustainable year-round nor even potentially over the real long term. Owned channels (like your website, in comparison to your “borrowed” channels like social media) give you more autonomy and makes your brand less reliant on third-parties who may change their agendas at the drop of a hat. Plus, always-on content marketing programs are more flexible by being less tied to set timings and Big Rock budgets.

Always-on, paid, and earned media efforts all need to work together. If you need help with your always-on content marketing programs or just want to talk shop, feel free to reach out or post your thoughts in the comments below.