Update 12/17: And Just Like That… Peloton has pulled the ad because it turns out Chris Noth might be a rapist. The turnarounds keep turning.
All indications are that Maximum Effort, Ryan Reynolds’ own personal creative agency, because of course he’s going to have his own personal creative agency, works at the speed of sound. (F’rinstance, they cranked out an ad with national treasure LeVar Burton “guest hosting” as spokesperson for Reynolds’ Aviation Gin less than 30 hours after the announcement that he’d be guest hosting Jeopardy.) Their reputation for quick and clever creative is ever growing.
So when Peloton rolled out a snarky new viral ad just days after Carrie Bradshaw’s husband, Big, got This Is Us’ed by a Peloton bike in the first episode of Sex and the City follow-up And Just Like That…, it was no surprise that Maximum Effort was behind it. I’ve even seen speculation that the entire thing was planned, that Peloton knew Big was going to die post-ride, because that’s the only way they could act so quickly to crank out such a funny, clever, slickly produced ad. But unless Reynolds is blatantly lying, his agency really was able to make it happen on the fly.
And I believe him. It’s not impossible, if you know how to do it (and are willing to put in the work). Here’s how you can make super-fast, super-good ads just like Ryan Reynolds.
1. Have a trusting agency/client relationship.
While they had yet to actually produce anything, Peloton and Reynolds did already have at least the early stages of a thing going — despite (or probably, definitely because of) that time he hilariously took the piss out of Peloton and their dead-eyed “Peloton wife” in an ad for his own Aviation Gin.
So right from the start, we know the folks at Peloton have a sense of humor, are able to laugh at themselves, and have Ryan Reynolds on speed dial for when something comes up. Like, for instance, when their product makes Carrie a widow in the last minutes of the And Just Like That… premiere. Even if their relationship with Maximum Effort wasn’t yet longstanding, they still knew who they could call to bring Big back from the dead.
(Which is more than could be said for Carrie. Y’all, if you come home to find your husband slumped against the wall, gasping from a post-Peloton heart attack, CALL 911. Jesus.)
2. Be game.
That kind of blisteringly fast movement can only come when everyone involved is up for doing something cool. Doing what cool? Doing whatever cool. Peloton, obviously, was on board, or else they wouldn’t have been asking Reynolds to do it in the first place. Chris Noth (a.k.a. Big) was on board, and obviously available on account of being dead. Real-life Peloton instructor Jess King was on board, probably out of spite for the whole “that whore Allegra” thing from Carrie.
For something like this to work, everyone involved has to agree that we’re all going to have a good time doing something creative, it’s not a huge deal, and anyone who poops the party by brandishing the brand standards or demanding teeny little script rewrites or asking questions like, “But why would Big fake his own death and run away with his Peloton instructor?” has to sit in a corner and isn’t allowed to share the final product on social media, because that would make them look cool and clearly they aren’t.
3. Keep things simple.
Roomy apartment with a pretty fireplace. Couch. Couple of bikes. Couple of actors. Like, three lines of dialogue. Three camera setups. Writing, editing, and shooting had to have been about as simple as an ad production can be and still come up with an end product that elegant. And distribution was all digital, on owned platforms, with no media buys or PR to have to worry about.
The LeVar Burton ad was about as simple as you can get, too — just the dude sitting by his own pool, wearing a white blazer and sipping some gin. Reynolds named his company Maximum Effort, but that was a Deadpool quote, not a philosophy for living — if you want to move really fast, the trick is to make as little effort as possible in the process.
4. Open your wallet.
Neither Peloton nor Reynolds himself have spoken about this, and I wouldn’t expect them to, but I feel comfortable in assuming that this ad came with a well-nigh unlimited budget. The shoot, as noted above, was exceptionally simple, and with bikes and actress both on loan from Peloton, production costs had to be pretty low.
But even if the production had been more elaborate and costly… so? Peloton was just coming off of widowing Carrie Bradshaw, stock prices were plummeting, and they were already feeling the effects of their Tread+ treadmill recall, so throwing a little money in the direction of crisis creative wasn’t exactly uncalled for. And on his end, I’m pretty sure Reynolds, with his vast personal wealth and a vanity agency he created solely “to have fun,” probably wasn’t nagging Peloton for funds. If he wanted to make this one purely for funsies, he absolutely could.
So no, you probably aren’t rolling in Ryan Reynolds money, but do remember the “good, fast, cheap” triangle and stop being so stingy with your advertising budget if what you want is good, fun, attention-grabbing creative.
5. Be Ryan Reynolds.
After the LeVar Burton ad, Reynolds told Adweek, “An accelerated turnaround of any idea or concept is sometimes easier, because you abandon the insane quest for perfection, aiming exclusively for fun.”
Now, I’m about to sound kind of salty here, and I’m absolutely not trying to pee in anyone’s creative Cheerios, but: Nice work if you can get it. I don’t think we can ignore the fact that this wasn’t just any client telling any agency to cut loose and have fun — it was a client telling Ryan Reynolds to cut loose and have fun. Just having him do their ad is a kind of a creative win, even before we look at whether or not the ad is any good. (It was good, of course, but that’s neither here nor there.) Being the client that tries to micromanage Ryan Reynolds is a great way to lose cool points, so of course there’s an added degree of freedom there that allows them to move fast and potentially break stuff. And that’s crucial for the Perpetual Hack-a-Thon energy that ostensibly keeps Maximum Effort moving. (Or possibly just a mile-long rail of coke, or possibly both.)
If you find yourself inspired to make 48-hour ads on the regular, you have to back away from the pickiness, is my point. And I mean that whether you’re a client or a creative director. Rounds and rounds and rounds of reviews and revisions suck all the fun out of a project, and when you’re trying to turn something over that fast, fun is basically the only thing keeping your team awake by the end of it. Hitting your team with a barrage of picky notes while still pushing them to work fast and long is a great way to burn them out, so unless you’re prepared to do things the Ryan Reynolds way, do not try this at home.
But, like, do try it at home, that way. The open-minded, somewhat open-walleyed way, where you trust your creative team to do stuff that is mildly risky but has the potential to be awesome. And when you do, definitely call me, because I love moving fast and aiming for fun.
In unrelated advertising news
While I’ve got you here: The holiday season wouldn’t be complete without the annual Weepy Awards, celebrating the festive holiday ads that manipulate us by making us cry on purpose. If you’ve seen any you feel are worthy contenders, make your nomination in comments or via email or on one of my assorted social mediums or, like, whatever. Then watch this spot next week to see if your favorite made it into the medals.