Ryan Reynolds and Sir Richard Branson together? The idea of them doing business together isn’t funny. It’s clever. The video they made to announce that Virgin Atlantic has signed up for exclusive rights to serve the gin in Virgin’s clubhouses and on board its flights is funny. Branson has charisma with a capital C. Reynolds has a remarkable flair for humour.
Reynolds’ previous promotional partner video was also funny. It was his “brother”, aka bitter Ryan Reynolds.
Reynolds co-wrote the script for that video, with George Dewey, a former executive creative director at McCann Erickson New York who is now president of Reynolds’ production company, Maximum Effort. The pair have also co-written the script for the new video. It’s just as sharp and just as witty. And there is more charm to come, with Branson set to appear in other content later this year.
Reynolds’ marketing efforts for his gin are not limited only to partnerships and humorous videos. He could teach some agencies about brilliantly effective marketing. In August, he released his email address on the Jimmy Fallon show while admitting that he had been using his out-of-office emails as a creative way to market his gin. The email address, Ryan@AviationGin.com, lit up. About 20,000 emails came in over a one-day period.
.@AviationGin has had a lot of attention lately. 20,000 daily emails crashed our servers. I had no idea we had an IT Department until an hour ago. They seem super sober.
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) August 15, 2018
Aviation was founded in Portland in 2006. Reynolds acquired an undisclosed stake in the company in February from Davos Brands, which owns Astral Tequila, Sombra Mezcal and Tyku Sake. He is now the brand’s creative director and takes an active part in its day-to-day running.
The gin will be launched on Virgin Atlantic with an event on 30 September.
“I’m delighted Virgin Atlantic is working with Ryan and his team on this partnership,” Branson commented.
“Aviation Gin was born out of a spirit of innovation, so serving it on board Virgin Atlantic flights seemed like the perfect combination.”
Reynolds added, “I’ve been a huge fan of Sir Richard Branson and Virgin for years. For Aviation to be chosen as the gin of choice for such an iconic and quintessentially British brand is a complete honour. We look forward to serving Virgin Atlantic guests for years to come and, on a personal note, Sir Richard has promised to teach me the difference between revenue and profit, so I am beyond excited.”
