In the past decade, celebrity interest and investment in tech companies has significantly increased. But not all celebrity investments are created equally. Some investors, like Ashton Kutcher, have prioritized the VC pursuits. Some have invested casually without getting overly involved. Others have used their considerable platforms to market their portfolio to varying degrees of success.
\nIt\u2019s been a little over a year since Ryan Reynolds bought a majority stake in Mint Mobile, a deal that has already had a dramatic impact on the the MVNO (mobile virtual network operator).
\nThe four-year-old company has seen a tremendous amount of growth, boosting revenue nearly 50,000% in the past three years. However, the D2C wireless carrier has seen its highest traffic days on the backs of Reynolds\u2019 marketing initiatives and announcements.<\/p>\n
There is a long history of celebrities getting involved with brands, either as brand ambassadors or \u2018Creative Directors\u2019 without much value other than the initial press wave.
\nLenovo famously hired Ashton Kutcher as a product engineer to help develop the Yoga 2 tablet, on which I assume you are all reading this post. Alicia Keys was brought on as BlackBerry\u2019s Global Creative Director, which felt even more convoluted a partnership than Lady Gaga\u2019s stint as Polaroid\u2019s Creative Director. That\u2019s not to say that these publicity stunts necessarily hurt the brands or the products (most of the time), but they probably didn\u2019t help much, and likely cost a fortune.
\nAnd then there are the actual financial investments, in areas where celebrities fundamentally understand the industry, that still didn\u2019t get to \u2018alpha.\u2019
\nEven Jay-Z has struggled to make a music streaming service successful. Justin Bieber never really got a selfie app off the ground. Heck, not even Justin Timberlake could breathe life back into MySpace. Reynolds seemingly has an even heavier lift here. It\u2019s hard to imagine a string of words in the English language less sexy than, \u201cmobile virtual network operator.\u201d
\nReynolds tells TechCrunch that he viewed celebrity investments as a kind of \u201chandicapping,\u201d prior to the Mint acquisition.
\n\u201cI\u2019ve just sort of seen how most celebrities are doing very, very well,\u201d he explains. \u201cWe\u2019re generally hocking or getting behind or investing in luxury and aspirational items and projects. Then George and I had a conversation about a year-and-a-half ago, maybe longer, about what if we swerved the other way? What if he kind of got into something that was hyper practical and just forget about the sexy aspirational stuff.\u201d
\nMint isn\u2019t Reynolds\u2019 first entrepreneurial venture. He bought a majority stake in Portland-based Aviation Gin in 2018, which recently sold for $610 million. He also cofounded marketing agency Maximum Effort alongside George Dewey, which has made its own impact over the past several years.<\/p>\n
In wake of Sprint\/T-Mobile deal, Ryan Reynolds has an announcement<\/p>\n
Maximum Effort was founded to help promote the actor\u2019s first Deadpool film. Reynolds and Dewey had come up with several low-budget spots to get people excited about an R-rated comic book movie. The bid appears to have worked. The film raked in $783.1 million at the box office \u2014 a record for an R-rated film that held until the 2019 release of Joker.
\nMaximum Effort (and Reynolds) was also behind the viral Aviation Gin spot, which poked fun at the manipulative Peloton ad that aired last year around the holidays. The same actress who portrayed a woman seemingly tortured by her holiday gift of a Peloton sits at a bar with her friends, shell-shocked, sipping a Martini.<\/p>\n
The original ad on YouTube, not counting recirculation by the media, has more than 7 million hits. Reynolds calls it \u2018fast-vertising\u2019.
\n\u201cWe get to react,\u201d he told TechCrunch. \u201cWe get to acknowledge and play with the cultural landscape in real time and react to it in real time. There isn\u2019t any red tape to come through, because it\u2019s just a matter of signing off on the approval. So in a way, it\u2019s unfair, in that sense, because most big corporations, they take weeks and weeks or months to get something approved. Our budgets are down and dirty, fast and cheap.\u201d
\nHe explained that this type of real-time marketing is only possible because he\u2019s the owner of Maximum Effort (and in some cases of the client businesses, as well), but because there is no red tape to cut through when a great idea presents itself.
\nReynolds has brought this marketing acumen to Mint Mobile in a big way. Last year during the Super Bowl, Reynolds took out a full page ad in The New York Times, explaining that the decision to spend $125,000 on a print ad instead of $5 million+ on a Super Bowl commercial would enable the prepaid carrier to pass the savings on to consumers.
\nIn October, Reynolds spun Mint\u2019s 5G launch into another light-hearted spot. He brought on the head of mobile technology to explain what 5G actually is, and after hearing the technical explanation, happily said \u201cWe may never know, so we\u2019ll just give it away for free.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mint also released a holiday ad just a couple of weeks ago warning of wireless promo season, wherein large wireless carriers may try to lure customers into expensive contracts using new devices. Standing over a bear trap, Reynolds dryly states: \u201cAt Mint Mobile, we don\u2019t hate you.\u201d
\nReynolds enjoys nearly 17 million Twitter followers and more than 36 million Instagram followers. He uses both platforms to promote his various brands without alienating his followers. Moreover, he doesn\u2019t exclusively promote his brands on social media, but weaves in his own funny personal commentary or gives followers a peek into his marriage with Blake Lively, which we can all agree is #relationshipgoals.
\nMint Mobile partners exclusively with T-Mobile to provide service, and unlike some other MVNOs, it uses a direct-to-consumer model, foregoing any physical footprint. Plans start at $15\/month and top out at $30\/month. CMO Aron North says that Reynolds\u2019 ownership and involvement with Mint Mobile is \u201cabsolutely critical.\u201d
\n\u201cRyan is an A plus plus celebrity, and he\u2019s very funny and entertaining and engaging,\u201d said North. \u201cHis reach has given us a much bigger platform to speak on. I would say he is absolutely critical in our success and our growth.\u201d<\/p>\n
We asked Reynolds if he has any specific plans for further tech investment, or if there are any trends he\u2019s keeping an eye on. He explained that his motivations are not purely capitalistic.
\n\u201cI\u2019m really focused on community and bringing people together,\u201d said Reynolds. \u201cWe think it\u2019s super cool to bring people together, particularly in a world that is very divisive. Even in our marketing, we try to find ways to have huge cultural moments without polarizing people without dividing people without saying one thing is wrong.\u201d
\nIn one of the company\u2019s more notable recent spots, Reynolds enlisted the help of iconic comedian, Rick Moranis. It was an impressive coup, given the actor\u2019s seeming retreat from the public eye, turning down two separate Ghostbusters film reboots.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s funny what happens when you just ask,\u201d says Reynolds. \u201cI explained that people genuinely miss him and his performances and his energy. And he, for whatever reason, said yes, and the next thing I know, six days later, we were out of there in 15, 20 minutes and we shot our spot.\u201d
\nOf course, it didn\u2019t escape the internet\u2019s notice that two well-known Canadian actors were standing in a field, selling a U.S.-only wireless service.
\n\u201cI would love to see [Mint] in Canada,\u201d Reynolds says. \u201cThere\u2019s a Big Three here that\u2019s challenging to crack. I don\u2019t pretend to know the telecom business well enough to say why, how or what the path forward would be there. I see basically a tsunami of feedback from Canada, asking \u2018why can\u2019t we have this here?\u2019 I think it\u2019s sexy. It\u2019s pragmatic and sexy. That\u2019s why I got involved with it.\u201d<\/p>\n