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00:00With the Super Bowl when it comes to the ads what worked and what didn't work. Well I think what worked is having an ad that was unlike any other ad and making it I mean it was the ads direct responses. You get know when people watching TV on their home they have their phone and tablet. And this ad basically was like grab your phone and become a part of this ad. And I don't I also don't think it's recreate a bowl in the sense it's like if you do it again it's just a poor imitation of the original. Combine that with like this kind of really truly direct response ad probably for the real truly you know this direct one of the first times is is just it doesn't tell a story. The story is learned about crypto. I think it was pretty amazing. I don't think we'll see it again. And I think they took a lot of courage for them to do it. And it apparently has paid off. So that's great for that brand. Brian how about you. What worked. What didn't work. I mean I certainly clicked on the Coinbase QR code but then the site went down. And I'm not sure it is that success or what. I don't. This site going down is probably indicative of some serious success. I would guess. I mean those are you know that's that's what's called an uptown problem. You know I always feel like marketing should move as fast as you do you know. So I think that you know big that Coinbase ad was great. I mean in terms of just you know I think that the two biggest obstacles to creativity are too much time and too much money. You know in character always wins out of a spectacle. And that ad has character. It's engaging it pulls people in. So I thought that was I thought that was fantastic. I love seeing. All right. Incest in their piece for lines but that was great as well. So the crypt I take over did this hit the Zeit Geist. I mean it wasn't just Coinbase it was RTX. It was E Toro. There were so many different companies trying to get a slice of our attention. Yeah. And by the you know. But they like like we're just talking about they cut through. And so they told us I think what they figured out is everyone is curious about this topic. So let's make an ad that is as direct to learning about it as you can. And it was very clever. And when I watch it it's almost funny how simple it is. You kind of laughing like this is it but it works. And so it was their own way of cutting cutting through the clutter and almost capturing the moment in the most direct way possible I think. I think it was brilliant. And it's one of a kind. There was one thing missing from that Coinbase ad while a lot of things including a celebrity we've seen so many celebrities jumping on this crypto train. Ryan what's your take on that. Is this just the next bandwagon or is there something more here. You know I just see that as a great enterprise companies looking to create and carve out space in their Zeit Geist. You know and sometimes I great way to do that is to use celebrities. Sometimes a terrible way to do that is to use celebrities. So I think there's they seem to be for you know I think a large part doing some things pretty well. You know I enjoyed the LeBron piece but. But yeah it's it's definitely something new and it's definitely something that's probably here to stay. Do you own any crypto now. I don't really want to comment on that. But you know I. I do. I do. I do see the value in in in the conversation that we're having right now. You know I mean it's that companies are doing a good job of bringing it into sort of a safer more mainstream light. I mean 90 percent of the word crypto is crypt. So you know I see why certain you know certain folks who might might be put off it or intimidated by it or. But you know I think it's emerging is is a huge huge player. I mean it's been emerging for a long time. It's each player. I'm not super surprised. The proposition of Mt. is that the Super Bowl should happen all year long. Right. Your pitch is that your giving clients Super Bowl level attention whenever they want whether it's a big football day or not. Correct. Yeah absolutely. You know I mean it's it's it's one of the great things about maximum effort. And what we can do within mountain is that we can you know we have the ability to leverage agile high impact creative advertising for TV and ads are funded. Ads are meant to be fun. We sort of forget that. And you know like I said earlier I think at ads that the only time that really suffers is when there's too much time and too much too much money. When you're moving at the speed of culture there isn't really an opportunity to overthink everything. One of the great things about Mountain and the cast model that created a subscription model that we use is that it cuts through a ton of the red tape. It's self-service. You know brands are able to to create huge impact in a short amount of time. And I and I love that about what we get to do. I think one of the biggest tenets of the company is. We've we've coined it as fast four times and you know that's to say that we do a lot more with a lot less. And you know we're obviously moving it at a speed that is pretty blinding. You know by comparatively speaking to our marketing and ad spaces work traditionally. So you know and I think that if you can for us the ultimate goal always is. And I think that I think maximum effort and mountain do so well together is that if you drop into an existing cultural conversation your brand becomes that conversation. And that's that that's that's really is for at least me and the creative side of things. You know Mark is more the software side of things obviously. But for me that is that's everything. Ryan you've brought rapid response really to the ad world. And I'm curious that Palatine ad with Chris North that you turned so quickly right after the premiere of the Sex and the City reboot. How did that happen. Well you know that's a great example of the power of cast of creative as a subscription and you know they were already hooked. Pelton Already hooked into that system. So it was it gave us an opportunity to cut through all of the red tape that you would normally find with especially the company as big as that. You know it's their companies that have these long drawn out ad campaigns that are created in advance. But we were able to do that. And there's no exaggeration when I say this. We were rolling cameras 24 hours after Pelton had called Mountain and said do you guys have anything for us. We're in the middle of a very odd cultural moment because a television show has killed one of our one of their main stars on on our product. Unbeknownst to us. And and we were able to respond in a way that was super agile and and and fun. But you know none of this you know this is all that this is the main reason that I was so excited about Maxim effort merging with with Mountain. I know it's a bold thing to say but really I feel like mountain is inevitable in this space you know much in the same way that you know Facebook was the social and and you know it. And so on. And I think the rise of streaming services and the advancements in production and technology we see it firsthand how it plays out in Hollywood it's transformed Hollywood. And I think the rise of a VOD and the power of social you could see this massive opportunity to transform TV advertising and you know merging with the leading performance TV platform that was going to help us on our journey in huge ways. So leveraging Mountain's platform and position in the CTV ecosystem you know that's that's facilitating that relationship in the end. It's the impact that we want to make in that space and vice versa. It's just been such a mutually beneficial experience for us. So tell us about the creative process in that moment. Is it just coming out of your head. Are you in a writers room throwing ideas back and forth and throwing it up on a whiteboard. Like how does that happen. You know it happens kind of all of the above. You know I mean we. We should at maximum effort. We have a team. I would call them like 25 snipers. We have more ideas than places to put them. And that's that that that problem and that issue has been helped a tremendous amount by it by merging with with Mountain. We also have quick frame which is you know in a massive creative company we think with what I would characterize this as an army of creatives. So you know allowing us to sort of deploy in so many different with a vast different vastly different perspectives to in our creative wheelhouse. It's been it's been really really amazing. Now you didn't have to take that ad down. Pelton did because of the sexual assault allegations against Chris. Not since then. We've seen Palatine go through a bit of a tumult. You know the CEO stepping down them letting almost 3000 people go. I'm curious Marc how you see that in retrospect and what seeing something like that happen to a brand that you're working with how that impacts you. Yeah I mean it's obviously been a challenge for pellets on and they've made changes in the company in terms of the allegations with Chris obviously pellets on has nothing to do with that but it now is something that at least for a moment got connected to their brand. But I think you put that off to one side and then from Palatine. I think ultimately and I can say this as someone leading a company you focus on product pellets and has great product. People love using it. All the trends in America kind of people moving the small towns favorite. And I think the new management team there I think they're going to have easy somewhat of an easy time. I'm a bit of just refocusing on basics and making the product even more accessible to more people said. So kind of answer the question is you just kind of put down your rear view mirror and you move forward and you go back to retelling your story and hopefully have fun and interesting way. Ryan how do you think about seeing well for example you're also working with a company called Bolt that the CEO. You've got that great ad Sarah McLachlan and the abandoned shopping carts giving them a little love. The CEO Apple also just got bumped to the chairman role. And I wonder how you think about your relationship with these brands and the fact that you're you're often working with companies that need a little love. Need a little. Yeah. Well I love it. My job is the creative. My job is really servicing that that side of it. How best can I tell your story in a way that is culturally culturally relevant and resonant and will will allow your brand to become the conversation in a way that is is delightful. Look also at maximum effort. Our edicts are joy in bringing people together as corny as that sounds. None of that precludes you from being subversive. I mean so much of our work is incredibly subversive and interesting. And we have a lot of fun half the time. And we're sitting in you know in our creative little think circles and we're just laughing ourselves to death. But it's it's it's so I have the greatest job on planet Earth. And and you know and really we really feel strongly about that not not creating a ton of divisive advertising and marketing for four companies. And it really works. I think I think you're seeing consumers respond to that. I mean for example that quick turn moment with the Palatine in December was that you know it's the set that has six billion media impressions within 36 hours. And we've done it before with with Palatine. But in the other way we did it with by brand aviation gin and Palatine. How does an ad out a couple of years ago it you know had this was called the peloton wife. And we did our own sort of version of that. We turned around turn that around in less than 48 hours. And it became the conversation made aviation gin become the conversation. So that stuff is fun and none of it is really that divisive. It's just really about playing in that in the cultural landscape. Mark obviously you're seeing a brand of various tablet to brand whether it's loved or hated trying to make a big transition with Facebook moving to the metaverse from a product perspective and a brand perspective. Do you do you have any thoughts on that. Mark Yeah. I mean I think that clearly there's a lot of interest in the concept of the metaverse. And so I mean Facebook basically said look we we want we're going to jump in front of it both from a product perspective and literally renaming the company the meta that takes a lot of courage. I think Mark Zuckerberg is thinking about the long term here in going forward. It's not guaranteed that it succeeds. Have been many products and categories in the past where it seems like everyone is on board for adopting and then they somehow don't fully make it. But to take a company inside that Facebook and say I'm almost going to pivot it over to something that is potentially game changing for the entire world is a pretty bold move. Whether the world needs it or not I think is a totally different conversation. But whether they needed it or not Mark is decided he's going to you know E is gonna get in front of that train and lead that train. And we'll find out in a few years whether that was a bet the great better or not. But for sure it's a it's a bold bet. Renaming a company and really essentially saying this is the future of Facebook. So yeah I admire it. I'm not in terms of what he's doing in terms of the product. We'll we'll wait and see. Yeah. Ron RTX did do it. Go ahead. Quickly. Rather attested to it first technically to to get him to Metta World Peace. That's right. That was then. This is noted Brian. There are so many celebrities now chasing spirits. Everybody wants that. Next aviation. Jen Dale can you talk to us a little bit about your business strategy beyond ads and you know where you see this going. Like what. What are you trying to. Yeah I mean you know just to speak to the sort of micro aspect of that I look at what it what has helped me and really change the game in terms of aviation gin and how I've managed to grow it as well as men mobile I would say and certainly applies to the work we're doing with Mountain right now is that the white space I've found is to really drop a lot of the artifice around me and a lot of the layers. I don't have any of those when I when I'm when we're talking to clients enterprise clients or other kind of clients. You know I does a direct line to me. So having accessibility and accountability I found to be a huge white space. You know it just changes the game. So you know really really making sure that you have skin in the game. You know see you're a real big part of the growth and and and success and whatever it is that you're building and that brand. But you really can't do that with a whole army of people around you. So that's something that SHOWBIZ sort of ingrained in you early on is that you have you know agents managers publicists lawyers and all sorts of stuff. So really kind of getting into the mix of this stuff without any of those layers has just really changed everything for me that really started about six or seven years ago. So that's always my advice to other folks in my my industry is to just you know make sure that you're accountable you're accessible you're the one picking up the phone and that you're reachable. Well speaking of another game I have to ask you about the Welsh soccer or football team. You bought Wrexham AFC last year fifth level ball team. And my very dear colleague Ed Ludlow is from Wrexham. And can I believe what you're doing to put this small Welsh town on the map. And he has a question for you. He wants Leo. What is the future of this team. And is this the next TED lasso story. Fits the next Ted Larson story but it's I think the future of the team is bright. You know me specifically because both Rob Mack Lanny and I have sustainability in mind when it comes to growing this this this club and and really how we understand how interconnected the club is with the community. So that's always been a huge part of our strategy is making sure that that each of these killers are sort of working together as we grow. But I love it. I love every second of it. And honestly I know this might be a little controversial to say I hate it to a football soccer as we call it ISE. It's just the most heartbreaking gut wrenching you know hellacious roller coaster ride of emotion and feeling that I that I don't know I have the proper strength to sort of withstand throughout the whole season. It's it's tough. It's a heartbreaking and. I get why they call it the beautiful game. It really is. It really is beautiful. But it's punishing too. All right. Well he'd like to take you for a pint of Wrexham logger the next time you're in town. And you can either laugh or cry depending on how the team done is doing. All right. Dunn and Dov.

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Ryan Reynolds on Super Bowl, Ad Creativity

Actor and MNTN Chief Creative Officer Ryan Reynolds and MNTN CEO and Founder Mark Douglas join Emily Chang to talk about the Super Bowl's crypto ads and how effective they were. They also talk about their quick turnaround for the Peloton ad with Mr. Big; what they think of Facebook's change name to Meta from a brand perspective; and Ryan also talks about his love - and hate - of soccer. (Source: Bloomberg)

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