What’s in this article:
- Reynolds deployed nostalgia, roasted his competition, and played off conspiracy theories to boost Mint Mobile
In 2019, Mint Mobile made headlines when celebrity Ryan Reynolds announced he was not just a subscriber, but also part-owner of the service. Since then, he’s reinvented the company’s image with a unique blend of self-awareness, and zero-sales-fluff marketing.
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Want the recipe to Reynold’s success? We’ll unpack some of Mint Mobile’s marketing secrets.
How Reynolds Deployed Nostalgia
In the Mint Mobile ad “Ryan & Rick Moranis,” Reynolds’ pitch-perfect use of nostalgia transformed a simple service announcement into a must-see ad.
The commercial opens to Reynolds in a mint field awkwardly asking Rick Moranis — he of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Ghostbusters, etc. fame — to explain Mint Mobile’s new unlimited plan. Moranis is totally lost as to why he’s there and what he’s supposed to be doing. Reynolds spends the rest of the commercial gawking at the he used to to see Moranis in person.
It’s reminiscent of The Office’s uncomfortable comedy.
Key Takeaways
- Don’t Overplay Your Hand: If you’re going to use nostalgia in your ad campaign, you have to be subtle. If you depend too much on a fond memory, it can come across as manipulative. Instead, tip your hat to the past or make a self-aware joke about your use of nostalgia. The gold standard is doing both at the same time, just like what Reynolds did with Moranis.
- Surprise the Audience: While nostalgia in media has been on a kick of late, not all the classics have made a resurgence. Instead of calling a beloved actor who had been back in the spotlight, Reynolds used someone who had been out of the public eye for decades, but would still trigger fond memories of family movies. This thoughtfulness pushed the move from bandwagon riding to showing genuine respect for a legend, winning us over in the process.
How Reynolds Roasted His Competition
Revisiting the brilliant Satan character he developed for a match.com campaign, Reynolds satirized major wireless service providers in the 2021 Mint Mobile ad “Dream Job.”
Looking for new ways to improve his life, Satan turns down promising careers at the DMV, the IRS, and Congress — deciding instead to take a job at “Big Wireless.” While working there, the dark lord learns a host of new lessons from the corporation about how to “torture people on a whole other level” with high prices, hidden fees, and nonexistent customer service. Satan is an excellent student: He develops a new plan to raise prices and launch an expensive smear campaign on Mint Mobile, earning praise from the VPs of Price Hikes, Frustration, and Extended Contracts.
All in all, the ad is a masterclass in sarcasm — lampooning the large wireless carriers for their faults and presenting Mint Mobile as an alternative everyone can get behind.
Key Takeaways
- Keep Things Light: Reynolds understands that one of the best ways to win over the internet is by embracing humor. Many of the biggest recent advertising failures — like Pepsi’s “Live for Now,” — were the result of brands taking themselves too seriously.
- Don’t Neglect the Details: Reynolds’ team clearly put passion and thought into the world they built for this commercial. From the posters on Satan’s cubicle (“Not Just Wireless Heart Less”) to the titles of Big Wireless’s execs, the ad’s attention to detail rewards rewatching: a trademark of timeless ad creative.
- Tell the Truth: The core of why this ad works so well is that it hits on something very real: the pain that wireless carriers can put their customers through. Sure, it’s not equivalent to Hell, but anyone who’s haggled with a customer service representative over billing “mistakes” intimately feels the frustration the commercial plays to. To successfully pull off something similar, you must identify real issues with your competition, then amp up the absurdity.
How Reynolds Cleverly Played Off Conspiracy Theories
The internet is home to pretty much all of the world’s information, regardless of how speculative it may be. Tapping into the widespread conspiracy theories — and plain confusion — around 5G networks, Reynold’s ad “Understanding 5G” made us all laugh.Opening in the familiar mint field, Reynolds introduces his head of technology, Rizwan Kassim, to take some mystery out of the misunderstood concept. Instead of making things clearer, Kassim’s jargon-heavy breakdown of 5G visibly perplexes Reynolds, who decides to make 5G free “until we can figure [5G] out.”
- Don’t Mock Your Audience: In an era where ridiculing people with different opinions has become a standard operating procedure, Reynolds chooses to joke about 5G without making a joke about the people who are concerned about the technology. Why? One reason might be because doing so would likely alienate potential customers. Reynolds understands that whatever would be gained by such a move is too risky as it could disrespect a portion of his audience.
- Find Common Ground: So, what does Reynolds make a joke about? The fact that modern technology has become so complex that basically no one understands it. This angle allows both those who worry about 5G and those who don’t get to be in on the gag — and creates common ground where many have struggled to find it.
The Secret to His Success
While each of these ads has something unique to teach us about advertising in the internet age, they share a core principle: conscious creativity.
- Reynolds didn’t fall prey to fan service because he thought about how his use of nostalgia could stand out.
- He set Mint Mobile apart from the competition by actually taking the time to identify the unique selling proposition (USP). Then, he crafted the perfect parody to highlight those differences.
- He referenced internet conspiracy theories without judging them. Instead, he came up with a related, universally relatable joke that everyone could enjoy.
Ultimately, no one can copy what Reynolds does. But we can take inspiration from him andbecome more disciplined when empathizing with our audience.
And when we do that well, the ads often write themselves.