Ryan Reynolds & the art of crafting raw advertisements

By using a PPT to create a Mint Mobile ad, Ryan Reynolds has brought into focus a 'Hey, I could have done this!' quality in his advertisements.

To be able to sell something without selling it is is an art difficult to master. There is something uniquely special about the advertisements that cut through the clutter without much evident, visible effort. The sets aren't grand, the script not too sophisticated. To the viewer, it also feels like — Hey, I could have done this! Advertisements featuring Ryan Reynolds sure seem to be doing great on this particular front.

Mint Mobile

In a recently released ad for Mint Mobile, Reynolds can be seen speaking into the webcam, explaining how the pandemic had halted their grand advertising plans for the mobile. Instead, they would be going the traditional PowerPoint presentation way to finish the ad. There is a cluttered desktop, slides of stock images and jokes about the actor.

See — Hey, I could have done this!

Earlier this year, Reynolds had tweeted about getting a full-page ad published in the New York Times at a much lesser price it would have costed them to advertise during the Super Bowl. In response, he got a request to get a dog's photo published in the paper. He obliged.

While this is not exactly that anyone can do, the gesture feels personal. Something you would do, if you could, for a friend, probably in a local paper? Slightly far fetched but still — Hey, I could have done this!

Also Read: Deadpool 2 trailer ft David Beckham & Ryan Reynolds is a movie marketing Marvel

Samsung QLED

In a promotional video for 6 Underground and QLED TV, Reynolds had managed to place its Aviation Gin advertisement. It was an ad within an ad in an ad. Right? It's clearly his baby, one he loves to talk about. Isn't that a very intrinsic aspect of putting your heart and soul into growing something? You talk about it everywhere!

Clearly — Hey, I could have done this!

Laughing Man and Aviation Gin

Last year, Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman got involved in a social media war, which ended (Did it though?) in a truce. They both came together to create advertisements, whole-heartedly, for each other's brands: Laughing Man and Aviation Gin. All was well until things took a rather nasty turn.

Well, people can find it difficult to believe a truce. Definitely — Hey, I could have done this!

In an interview earlier this year, Ryan Reynolds had spoken about imperfection and striving to do more with smaller budgets.

"You have to be comfortable with showing your mistakes and your triumphs," he had said.

Something he has done time and again with the ads of Aviation Gin. Like the one time, they created an ad out of rejected slogans.

Isn't there a lot of content in the ideas that are rejected? Wouldn't it be amazing if you could use it to create content anyway?

So thank you, Ryan Reynolds, for creating advertisements that well, we could have made. Or not. But — "Hey, I could have done this!"