Ryan Reynolds X Taylor Swift

Let’s talk about the blockbuster Match.com commercial that dropped yesterday.

But first let’s step back and look at their channel in total. They had an engagement problem on their YouTube Channel. Match is a company with $2B+ in revenue for 2020, and a YouTube channel with 5,000 subscribers.

Let’s break down where most of their content lies on the Uncaring Valley.

A Typical Upload from Match.com’s YouTube Channel

This is a basic ad let’s look at the numbers. Comments turned on, but no one cared to leave one. 26,486 views with one like and five dislikes.

This is the the bottom of the soulless gulch. With so few likes (or dislikes) and no comments, the views clearly have come from paid media. No shame in using paid media, but if you watch the video, you can clearly tell (and there’s an onscreen disclaimer to confirm) that these are actors. It’s not coming off as genuine.

I put this effort at the bottom of the Soulless Gulch. No one cares about this content.

Let’s Make Love with Rebel

A year ago they had a campaign, Let’s Make Love with Rebel, starring Rebel Wilson, let’s break down those numbers. They made 13 videos, ranging from :16 to 1:22. Comments are turned off. so we can’t use that as a metric.

Across the 13 videos there were 6M Views, and 2500 likes or dislikes. The first few videos seemed to generate genuine enthusiasm, with 456 likes on the initial video, and 288 on the second and morelike than dislikes. But those numbers quickly drop off as the series progresses.

I put this as better than the above campaign, but still in the depths of the Soulless Gulch.

Engagement is easy with Ryan Reynolds in the mix.

Ryan Reynolds somehow manages not to be a total hateable person. He’s rich, successful, seems to have deep friendships, a great marriage and now he’s spinning up a full-blown marketing agency.

That he is also likeable is perhaps his greatest achievement.

Let’s look at the numbers: 7.3M Views in the last day across two videos. 500,0000 interactions on YouTube and Twitter. Astounding for a commercial.

What makes this work — collaboration, production value, and reading the room.

Collaboration
If this ad was made made Weiden+Kennedy or Chiat Day or any of the other large agencies, I think of course it would be well executed, but it would miss out on two key aspects. First is Ryan Reynolds is a social media superstar. These ads went on his channels and got major cred and boost from that. It feels more like a short film sponsored by Match.

Second, Ryan Reynolds can call up Taylor Swift and ask for the unreleased remaster of her song and get her to tweet about it. This is first and foremost a collab between Ryan and Taylor. That’s what turns this from a simple ad into a newsworthy event.

Production value
If You’re going to have a newsworthy event, you need to support that with the highest production values as possible. This is on par with the best Super Bowl commercials and approaching Hollywood Blockbuster levels with the makeup, production design, and locations. If you’re going to go big, make sure it’s actually big and nail it with the best. The Rebel Wilson campaign wilts in comparison — a single set, an actor without a strong social following, and lacking anything newsworthy.

Reading the Room
Everyone is tired of what this year has been, and some of us still dread what’s to come in the next few months. This is such a direct way to talk about it all, without getting bogged down in specifics of the year, or mentioning any features of the app.

I would put this with the best in class of commercials and advertising.

TL;DR You can cross the Soulless Gulch, but you need a strong voice and a budget to, ahem, match if you want to get there.