Today, we’re speaking to digital account executive, Tom Salter, who joined MI at the end of last year. Our conversation sees Tom tell us why you shouldn’t put pressure on yourself to make everything perfect straight away and shares the reasons he looks to both his personal and professional life for role models.

What led you to a career in media?

I graduated from university and started working as a Teaching Assistant at a local secondary school. I really enjoyed my time there and met some amazing people, but after a year I knew that I didn’t want to go into teaching. I started thinking about what I wanted to do next and got chatting with one of my colleagues, whose husband worked as a creative director at a marketing agency in London. In her words, her husband was crazy, intense & deeply passionate about his work and she thought my calm, rational approach to problem-solving would complement his energy. She suggested I look at client-facing roles within the industry, so I started researching different types of marketing and gravitated towards the digital space.

Soon after, I joined an AdTech startup called Glui (formerly Playrcart), whose technology allows users to perform an action (like a purchase, or donation) within a digital ad without leaving the page they’re browsing. I joined the business as a Sales Executive and, after a few months of cold emailing and familiarising myself with the tech, I started working more closely with media partners and independent agencies to launch marketing campaigns using Playrcart’s technology. I really enjoyed working with the indie agencies and it gave me the desire to work in a similar environment in the future.

Unfortunately, my role at Playrcart was made redundant due to the company facing challenging circumstances, so I moved to Epsilon where I worked on the business’ on-site marketing service. However, my interest remained in digital marketing, and I wanted to experience agency life which is what led me to my role as a digital account executive at MI!

 

What does a typical day look like for you?

Every week starts with pacing, going into each engine and making sure our spend levels align with the budgets in our plan. I spend a lot of time building campaigns across Google, Meta and LinkedIn. Another key part of my role is pulling and feeding back performance reports to clients. In these reports, we focus our analysis on top-performing channels and audiences (suggesting areas for budget optimisation), as well as creative analysis, to help identify which ads are resonating with users so that similar, high-performing content can be produced.

I have a lot of day-to-day contact with clients, handling specific requests as they come in and ensuring they’re actioned efficiently. This includes everything from sharing more detailed performance updates, to coordinating changes to our clients’ reporting dashboards with the help of our data team. If there’s anything we need to do to improve our clients’ reporting dashboard, such as enhancing it with a new report or including a new conversion metric, I’ll work closely with our data team to map out and complete that project, sharing the final version with the client for feedback.

What is your proudest moment at MI?

I’ve been at MI for six months now and would say that passing my probation and formally joining the agency as a digital account executive has been my proudest moment here. I’m confident in my role because of the support I’ve been given from the team and my managers, and passing my probation was confirmation of this.

 

What advice would you give to someone looking to become a digital account executive?

Be curious and follow what interests you. Marketing is a broad field, and even within digital marketing, there are lots of different channels you can use and strategies you can look into. For example, I’ve found that Google’s platforms can be a bit complex, so I naturally gravitate towards social media. Once you’re in a role, asking questions is also really important. Try to get into the habit of looking at data and thinking about what’s driving performance. If one channel or audience is doing really well, ask why and think about how you might build on that success. And finally, brush up on your maths! You don’t have to be a whizz at numbers, but having a good grasp of figures will make your life easier.

What mistake have you learnt the most from?

One of the biggest things I’ve learned is the importance of asking for help. When you’re stuck with a problem, it’s easy to spiral trying to figure it out on your own. Reaching out for support can save time and help you understand the problem if you encounter it again in the future.

I’ve also learned that things don’t have to be perfect straight away. Putting too much pressure on yourself to get everything exactly right from the beginning can actually slow you down. Especially with client work, it’s often better to create and get feedback on many iterations of a piece of work to improve it. Big projects can feel overwhelming at first but breaking them down into little pieces makes them much more manageable.

 

Who’s your role model?

I don’t think I have one role model. There are loads of people in my life who I look up to and whose qualities I try to emulate both professionally and personally.

Within my family, my Dad has an amazing work ethic. He’s been retired for a few years now but still works a job that sometimes requires him to be on call throughout the night. My Mum is incredibly organised and is extremely generous with her time. Another person I look up to is my aunty. She’s currently taking on a challenge to walk the length of the UK in four weeks and her mindset & determination is next level.

Then with the people at MI, Wendy is the most supportive manager I’ve ever had. She’s always checking in on me and asking me if there’s anything she can do to help. Hannah’s fantastic with clients; she has this amazing aura on calls. If a client has a question or if they’re not happy with something, she can handle it immediately. And George has a crazy knowledge of data and the digital space. I learn from each of them every day.

We live in an era where rapid technological innovation is happening at the same time that the overall population is aging. 24% of the population is now aged 60+ and 14% of the population is 70 or over. It is easy to assume that older age groups are being left behind while the media landscape is shaped by this technological innovation. However, whilst they are traditionally seen as slower adopters, there is so much nuance within what is defined as a homogenous ‘older audience’. It is crucial to consider and understand this.

The easy option is to adopt an advertising approach which follows the stereotypical older audience; they watch live TV, they read newspapers and they listen to the wireless. However, when we stop to consider the details, a more complex picture emerges. The first iPhone was released in 2007. The internet was made public 32 years ago. Broadband has been around for 25 years. Facebook launched in 2004 and YouTube in 2005. The point being that a large number of the older population have grown up with digital being a big part of their lives.

Considering audience preferences in different older age groups

Even if we simply break the older age groups up into 60-69 and 70+ we start to see significant differences in behaviour. The ‘young seniors’ aged 60-69 are increasingly comfortable with technology and many will have spent much of their lives working with computers, using smartphones and accessing the internet. They use streaming services, they are on social media and they consume news digitally. Whilst those over 70 are using digital tools, the pace is slower and preferences lean towards more traditional channels. Live TV (including news and game shows) remains the preferred medium, they’re loyal to physical newspapers and magazines, social media use is limited and they are more sceptical about other digital use.

Adapting channel selection for an aging population

Within channels, there are some generalisations that can be applied. An older audience will prefer an influencer who is a trusted expert in their field; a medical or finance professional over a niche TikTok star. And they prefer messages from trusted media brands or sources, such as email newsletters.  Audience segments which use digital platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and programmatic video should be served personalised dynamic creative. In radio, sponsorship formats can work well (e.g. “brought to you by…” around news or weather segments). Messaging that leverages nostalgia on TV by tapping into previous decades can resonate emotionally. For the 70+ audience, accessibility is key. Calmer, slower-paced voiceovers and larger font or high contrast designs; longer video formats (this audience typically has the time and patience); include phone numbers and clear CTAs.

An approach that is not simply based on age but that builds in nuances and is informed by data – as we would for any other age group – is essential. Success will come not from chasing trends blindly, but from understanding the aging population’s preferences and behaviours.

Today, we’re speaking to joint managing director, Richard Slater, one of the first employees at MI Media. In this Day in the Life, Richard talks about the value of shared responsibilities when growing your team and why a governor at his child’s school should be an international diplomat!

What led you to a career in media?

When I left university, I didn’t know what I wanted to do so I decided to take a year trying out work experience in different industries. I did a broad range of placements; everything from financial hedge funds with a more data analytical lens, through to consumer PR.

At the end of the year, I’d found that I enjoyed the marketing side of PR but wanted to be able to incorporate some of the more analytical aspects of my other experience. I talked to my mum who worked in marketing and she put me onto the idea of looking at media agencies. I applied for a few different agencies (and got knocked back from a couple!) before ending up at what was then MediaCom. I loved it from day one and I’ve been in media ever since.

I did a good stint at MediaCom, by the end managing teams across RBS and Direct Line Group brands. I was doing well, but I could see that there was a limitation on how much of an impact I could make while working at a big agency on big brands. I knew the founder of MI Media who was just getting the business started. Having talked to him about looking at all sorts of options, I realised that there was a huge amount of potential for my development in working at a small media agency. All the skills and training I’d acquired at a big agency could be applied to clients where it would make more of a difference. Working at a small agency would also give me exposure not only to client-side stuff but how businesses are developed and how you determine what kind of agency you want to be; from proposition to who you recruit.

 

What does a typical day look like for you?

Every day starts with me getting my son to nursery on the back of my bike. A cycle to work is a great way to start the day, it certainly wakes your brain up navigating London traffic with a two-year-old on your bike!

As a joint managing director, my role covers the client side of the business, making sure clients get what they need and that we’re practicing what we preach as an agency. To do this, much of my day is spent having conversations with and connecting the right people.

To make sure I’m on top of what’s going on, I’ll usually speak with our head of data & digital, George, or group client services director, Gary, to understand our current areas of focus and any support that’s needed. I will undoubtedly want to talk to our new business director, Nicole, about current opportunities and ongoing pitches to ensure that the right senior support is involved and that junior members are coached through the pitch process. Finally, having worked together at MediaCom before sharing ten years at MI, I have a close working relationship with my fellow joint managing director, Jamie. It’s great to have a colleague that you trust who can both challenge and validate you and I always find it worthwhile having a conversation with him to do just this.

I’ve always been keen to retain a level of involvement client-side as it’s client work that got me into the job in the first place. It’s interesting to think about our clients’ challenges and new ways to solve them. It also gives me a chance to keep in touch with broader team by understanding what they’re working on and how they’re approaching it.

All of that will take me to the end of the day and I’m back on the bike to rush to nursery!

What is your proudest moment at MI?

For me personally, it was when I was asked to take on the role of managing director. I’d started at MI when it was a three-person agency and I wanted to learn more about business and be involved in how the company developed. Being entrusted to take that role when I was still a relatively young 37 was a real marker of the value I brought to the company.

When I think about our client work, it’s definitely winning the IPA Effectiveness Award for Médecins Sans Frontières. We’ve been working with the charity for over a decade and throughout this time we have really seen the value of the work we’re doing. We have tangible proof that our efforts have built significant revenue that has funded incredibly important work. What’s more rewarding than doing that for a charity?

 

What advice would you give to someone looking to become a managing director?

It’s important to understand what the role really involves and make sure you’re ready to take that on. I don’t think I realised at the time how much you feel the weight of responsibility in the role of an MD. It changes your relationship with work, you see yourself as responsible for how the company is performing and that has a direct impact on what we can do for our people.

You need to remember that you’re only human. You almost need to have a level of detachment to look at things objectively and clearly. Being caring enough to do a good job for your people while also taking a mental approach that allows you to make good decisions is a skill that you must learn. It might not be something people can get their heads around until they’re in the role, but it’s important to understand that it will be part of your job.

What mistake have you learnt the most from?

Early on in my career, I would say it wasn’t understanding the value of developing your team through sharing responsibilities. When we started off as a three-person company, we were doing almost everything ourselves. As we grew, my behaviour didn’t change quickly enough. I saw delegation as senior peoples’ excuse for getting other people to do the work for them. But, if you do it in the right way, it’s not only hugely beneficial for you but for the rest of your team.

The first time I went on paternity leave, I was away for three months. It forced me to give responsibility to other people. When I came back, my team had progressed massively. I had a moment of realisation that I hadn’t been thinking about delegation properly. People who take pride in their work often want to hold onto it, but it’s so important to learn the skill of delegation.

 

Who’s your role model?

Its not a big celebrity or personality people would know, but there’s an amazing woman who is a governor at my child’s school. She has an incredibly difficult job dealing with families from every walk of life. So many people with so many different agendas could create a chaotic situation. But she has a natural ability to communicate in a way that works across the board.

From a leadership perspective, the ability to bring everyone together without just paying lip service to one group of people or alienate anyone is such an incredible skill. She will never pander to any one group but will always give the right answer, even if it’s a difficult one. She will always take the time to make sure that people understand why a decision is being made for the overall benefit of the school. I always come out of meetings thinking, I have no idea how she just did that. She should be an international diplomat!

Marketing Insight

Aldi is no stranger to toeing a thin line between the branding of its own products vs. those of other household names as part of its ‘Like Brands, Only Cheaper’ platform. You couldn’t be blamed for looking down the confectionary aisle and getting easily confused between a ‘Racer’ and a ‘Snickers’ bar.

Its challenger brand image appeals to most working families in the UK and beyond, with a growing percentage of young adults doing their weekly shop at Aldi. Using its position in the market, Aldi has taken the strategy of challenging household names by making a like-for-like product at the same price point, something it has successfully done for years.

However, in 2019 when Aldi launched ‘Cuthbert the Caterpillar’, drawing inspiration from a close competitor, the reaction was far bigger than it may have anticipated. M&S’ ‘Colin the Caterpillar’ had been on shelves for over 30 years and the supermarket didn’t take kindly to Aldi’s copycat approach. M&S’ reaction put Aldi’s brand at risk. It faced criticism in the press and a legal case from M&S.

Media Innovation

Instead of seeing this as a threat, Aldi sought to take positives from the situation. There was less emphasis on winning the legal battle and more on winning in the court of public opinion.

Cue Aldi’s #freecuthbert campaign. Aldi’s social team came out swinging against M&S, posting ‘This is not just any court case, this is…#freecuthbert,’ and ‘Marks & Snitches’ across its social media channels. The supermarket went all out, turning the legal case into a PR and social campaign. Cuthbert the Caterpillar featured across social media, countless press articles and even featured on This Morning.

Aldi’s response was playful and non-serious, highlighting its relatability with the UK’s sense of humour. Its PR work paid off, 1,400 pieces of coverage were written, user generated content amassed 30 million views across social and, while not a marketing KPI, protests were held outside M&S showing that Aldi had captured the hearts and minds of the British public.

Accelerating Growth

Aldi’s news sentiment score grew by 8.5% and purchase consideration grew by 6.8% during the court battle.

While the controversy was legally settled between the two supermarket giants in 2022, Aldi continued to capitalise on the public’s interest in the spat in 2023 with the launch of a new advert. The ad was a fun play on the caterpillar cake rivalry, depicting a party attended by all the supermarkets’ caterpillars. When Colin arrives a scuffle breaks out with Cuthbert before ending with the line ‘Aldi. Like M&S. Only cheaper.’

As reported in Campaign, the UK’s largest woodland conservation charity, the Woodland Trust, has selected MI Media to handle its media planning and buying after a three-way competitive pitch. 

The charity’s vision is a world where woods and trees thrive for people and nature. We have been charged with using media to inspire others to join the Woodland Trust’s efforts by growing its supporter base, deepening the relationship with existing supporters and influential policy and legislature decision makers. 

Ruth Hyde, Director of Brand and Communications at the Woodland Trust said, “We were impressed by MI Media’s demonstration of fundraising expertise and their understanding of our needs was spot on. It’s important that an agency partner can support us in achieving our longer-term goals and MI Media’s shrewd strategic response and clear road map showcased their strengths in this space.”  

Our planning & buying remit will cover above-the-line and performance channels. We will work in partnership with Goodstuff’s G-Force team for TV buying. 

Richard Slater, MD at MI Media said, “During the last 21 years, up to 70% of ancient woods have been lost or damaged. Our woodlands play an important part in our environmental futures and not nearly enough is being done to save and restore them. Alongside the obvious environmental benefits, research has proven the benefit of green spaces for our health and wellbeing, so we’re determined to drive the memberships and donations needed to help the Trust protect our woodlands and grow more trees.” 

Marketing Insight

The aim of Rockstar Games at its inception was to disrupt and revolutionise the gaming community. It wanted to create games that imprint themselves culturally and stamp its name in pop culture 

In the 2000s, Rockstar Games had a major release: Grand Theft Auto (GTA): San Andreas, selling over 27 million units worldwide. Whilst the game was praised for its expansive open world play and influential gameplay, it also faced massive backlash with its controversial Hot Coffee mod to the game. This led to legal issues and damages to brand reputation. Despite retaining a loyal fan base regardless of the backlash, Rockstar Games wanted to branch out of its niche gaming appeal to achieve mainstream success.  

Media Innovation

To achieve this, the brand decided to embark on infrequent game releases while working hard to build audience anticipation to extreme highs so that every launch is transformed into cultural event.  

From the start Rockstar Games has always embraced user generated content, creating strong connections between the brand and its audience. Over time, this UGC has broken into meme culture expanding the cultural reach of its games to young adult non-gamers. Rockstar Games heavily cultivates this organic reach across gaming forums and social media for the release of its games with strategic drops of gameplay, designs and what players can expect. 

To begin building anticipation for the launch of Grand Theft Auto VI, in 2023 the company released its first trailer on YouTube, reaching over 90 million views in 24 hours and becoming one of the highest viewed videos on YouTube for a non-music video. It supported the trailers release with OOH in high-impact locations across the world such as Times Square, Shibuya Crossing and Piccadilly Circus.  

With the game set to launch in May 2026, earlier this month anticipation was further heightened with the drop of a second teaser trailer. In less than a month, the trailer has garnered 3.7m views on TikTok, 113m views on YouTube and 117m views on Twitter. Fan excitement has peaked again, with many sharing memes about their eager anticipation and preparation for the release across social media platform and forums, strengthening the community bond and continuing to increase the organic visibility of GTA VI and Rockstar Games. 

Media Innovation

Accelerating Growth

Rockstar Games’ anticipation strategy has Accelerated Growth for the brand even before its latest game has been released. Although the last GTA was released back in 2013, more than 210 million units have sold worldwide as of the end of 2024. Today, Rockstar Games releases reach cultural icon status. 

So far, this series has taken a look at the lives of our client-facing teams. Today, we’re changing things up and speaking to our finance manager, Jeffrin Antony. In this Day in the Life, Jeffrin talks about the importance of communication & storytelling in a finance role and the life lessons he’s learnt from the inimitable Arsène Wenger. 

What led you to a career in media?

I’ve spent my education training for a role in finance. I wasn’t necessarily looking to work in the media industry. During my ACCA exams I gained three years of practical experience in practice: accounting firms that do tax returns for individuals and businesses. After I completed my exams, I wanted to make the jump to industry. In practice, it’s a lot to do with year-end activity; whereas in industry the work you do is tailored to the industry you choose to work in. There’s variety in budgeting, forecasting and month end work.

It was this search for a role in industry that led me to my role as a finance manager at MI Media. It has been great to learn more about an industry I didn’t have any experience in and develop my understanding of how advertising works. Now when I walk down the street and see a billboard, I know that’s an OOH campaign!

What does a typical day look like for you?

My role as a finance manager is unpredictable and involves a lot of problem solving. I collaborate with every department across the business, from client services to the managing directors. Externally, I also build relationships with various stakeholders from suppliers to rebate partners. Every day there will be questions to answer, whether it’s about credit insurance or media owners. Once each query has been dealt with, I can get on with my day-to-day work which can involve anything from proactively managing accounts receivable and account payable to optimise our cash flow, to delivering detailed variance analysis and financial reporting to support the Finance Director in providing key insights to our senior leadership team. My job is definitely about finding the right balance between dealing with requests while managing people’s expectations.

What is your proudest moment at MI?

Leading an entire business audit has been a real highlight. I had worked on audits before, but this time the project was entirely in my hands. I was the main point of contact for our auditors, using the team around me (including client services) to gather all the information they needed. I had to make sure the auditors understood how the media industry works and how we as a business make money. Taking on this responsibility was one of the biggest steps in my career.

What advice would you give to someone looking to become a Finance Manager?

Build a solid foundation and understand the principles of accounting, then expand on this. Don’t just receive a set of figures and take them at face value, understand the story behind them. What do these figures really mean? What is the impact of them? From there it’s about being able to communicate this story in a way that doesn’t rely on accounting terminology so that stakeholders across the business can understand it.

Be a people person. Make sure you’re always there for your team and understand their needs so that you can play a crucial role in their development, rather than just delegating work to them. Also make sure you build relationships outside of the finance team, don’t become insular but branch out. Build a presence in every team and be a resource for them. Work on finding ways to add value. How can you improve the processes around the flow of information? Can you have a direct impact on the business by developing tools that efficiently deliver insights which will drive key business decisions.

Develop your commercial acumen by understanding the industry you’re working in and its different revenue streams. From there, start to consider how you can start influencing decision making. Look at the bigger picture behind the numbers to play a role in creating the story around them, what it means and what you would recommend on the back of it.

What mistake have you learnt the most from?

In finance you will make mistakes as part of your career. Understand that it’s bound to happen as part of your development. What you should be doing is learning from them. Sit back and reflect on what you got wrong. Don’t let it affect your day but understand how you made the mistake and implement changes for the future.

I could tell you 50 or 100 mistakes I’ve made but what has helped me the most is reflecting on my mistakes instead of shying away from them. Even directors make material mistakes, everyone does it!

Who’s your role model?

Arsène Wenger is like a father figure to me. Not just because he used to manage the team I support. It’s who he was and how he represented the company he worked for. He wasn’t afraid to show his ambition.

One of the only books I’ve read in my life is Wenger’s Red and White. The early chapters are about his obsession with football growing up. He discusses how the road to success is a lonely one, you have to make sacrifices. For Wenger, that meant watching tapes of football games while others were at the pub. But those sacrifices lead to him changing the culture of football when he came to England.

There’s a quote by Arsene Wenger during an interview: “Don’t be scared to be ambitious. It’s not a humiliation to have a high target and to fail. For me, the real humiliation is to have a target and not to give everything to reach it.”

You should always be setting targets and striving to develop your skills. If you want to be a CFO, don’t be afraid to set that ambitious target. Some people may doubt you but take the risk and believe in yourself. Even if you fail, you tried. That’s what matters.

About 18 months ago, something fab happened in my small beauty world. An Avon book landed through my door. An actual paper book! I have an Avon lady! It feels old fashioned in this digital, e-commerce world but, for me, it works. It’s great value and the brand has fab products. I order stuff every month, spending more money than I normally would on makeup, and it gets delivered to me!

Whilst a lot of people will probably be laughing at the old-fashioned-ness of this. I think it’s revolutionary. It’s personal to who I am as a consumer.

Beauty is personal to each of us. It’s about celebrating individuality, not creating one size fits all. The beauty industry thrives on evolution, from the rise of clean beauty to the explosion of TikTok-fuelled trends. Staying relevant is not just about keeping up but anticipating what customers will want next.

AI’s impact on beauty consumers’ experience

Many of us are talking about how technology and AI are transforming the advertising industry, they’re also having an impact in the beauty world. 60% of those who tried makeup on virtually said that it influenced their decision to buy. L’Oreal has used AR tech so that shoppers can virtually try on products with photorealistic accuracy. Meanwhile, Ulta Beauty, Clarins, Beiersdorf and Unilever are among the first adopters of a generative AI-powered platform for businesses. Called Skin GPT, it analyses facial photos to predict future aging and simulate the effects of skincare products and treatments. While skin analysis is nothing new, it’s seen a renewed interest as brands seek out ways to tap into AI mania and make use of recent progress in the field. However, nearly 50% of Gen Z and Millennials aren’t aware that brands are offering ways to try on makeup virtually, so these services must be communicated more effectively to have a real impact.

Diversity in the beauty industry has become crucial. Arbelle’s State of Inclusivity in Beauty report tells us that the industry is being reshaped by consumers demanding diversity across gender, age, ethnicity and skin tone. Brands like Fenty Beauty are offering a wide range of shade offerings and a great thing about this is that other companies are following suite including big players like L’Oreal and Mac. So much so that it’s been named the Fenty effect. It’s not just about skin colour, but age and gender: 56% of men now have a skincare routine and companies are now using older models as brand ambassadors, think Helen Mirren and Jessica Lange.

For me, I had been using a French skincare company for ages, since I was in my twenties. In later years I’ve needed a restorative cream, but the brand became more expensive with the product costing £90. During Covid, when I was furloughed, I decided that this was too expensive and made a change to Nivea Age Spot. It’s probably a third of the price and unbelievably brilliant. This one product introduced me to Nivea as an affordable brand which means that I now use the night cream, serum and day cream.

User-generated content drives beauty purchasing decisions

I’m not the only one who has embraced a more value led beauty routine. Unbelievably #BeautyTok, the TikTok hashtag where users share beauty tips, has 35billion views! 52% of consumers discover new beauty products on the app and 80% saying that user generated content highly impacts their purchasing decisions.

A related trend we’re seeing across social media fuelled by this is the rise of skincare and makeup ‘dupes’. Many of us are now opting for high quality, lower cost alternatives. Fragrance dupes are being shared all over social media, they smell great and for a fraction of the price.

This takes me back to where I started with Avon: a great brand with high quality, good value products, skincare and makeup. Avon and other companies are redefining beauty habits. Brilliance does not have to come with a high price tag.

It means that as consumers we can blend what’s in our makeup bag, some luxury products sitting alongside brilliant, lower priced items.

Beauty is personal to you. Everyone is different: skin tone, budget, the look you want to achieve; therefore, beauty advertising must be personal. The companies that can harness that will be the winners.

Throughout this series of articles, we have explored how different brands approach marketing campaigns and think outside the box to accelerate growth for their businesses. However, we have never explored how people can use their own personal brand to build and support their own business model. This brings me to the rise of Ryan Reynolds to major Hollywood stardom and brand builder. It was a journey that spanned several years of hard work, versatility and honing his comedic talent. In this article I look at how Reynolds used his Hollywood career to explore multiple other ventures, turning himself into a successful entrepreneur and investor.

Marketing Insight

Ryan Reynolds’ early career began with his breakthrough into acting in the late 1990’s. Starring in Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Place for all three seasons led to a couple of larger Hollywood movies like Van Wilder and Smokin Aces which established him as a recognisable face in Hollywood. Early in his career, Reynolds often got typecast as the ‘charming’ guy in comedies and, while he found success in those roles, it took time for him to transition to more varied, serious roles. Ironically, his hard work eventually landed him the role of Deadpool which is where everything started to fall into place.

Reynolds has since built a personal brand that is both humorous and authentic. His self-deprecating humour and playful, witty persona resonate with a broad audience. This ability to connect on a personal level has made him more relatable and has helped him gain a loyal following. Reynolds’ online presence, including his social media platforms, reflects his personality and plays a big role in driving engagement and awareness for his own brands, making him an extremely useful tool for many other brands to capitalise on.

Marketing Insight

Media Innovation

Two examples that demonstrate how Reynolds has been able to use his brand persona, blending entertainment with marketing to great effect in business are Aviation Gin and Mint Mobile. Aviation Gin is one of the actor’s most renowned ventures. In 2018 Reynolds bought a stake in the brand, becoming its public face. He used his personal brand to market the gin in a way that felt less like traditional advertising and more like a fun & engaging watch. An example of this can be seen in the 2019 ad ‘The Process’ which addressed the fact that most people don’t really need another gin ad. The campaign poked fun at typical alcohol commercials by being intentionally over-the-top. It gave the audience exactly what they “didn’t ask for” by making a loud, ridiculous ad that focuses on how unnecessary the ad itself is, while also continuing to promote Aviation Gin.

Another of Reynolds’ business ventures is Mint Mobile, a budget-friendly wireless carrier he purchased a stake of in 2019, becoming its ‘spokesperson’. He used his social media presence and witty persona to promote the brand in a way that felt natural and entertaining. One of the most notable examples of this was the ad ‘Understanding 5G’. The ad was shot in the style of a low-rent infomercial with Reynolds bringing on a special expert to explain what 5G is before declaring that, “I guess we may never know what 5G is,” and giving customers an offer of free 5G. It’s a simple yet effective approach that should encourage marketers to break the mould to be as memorable as possible.

Accelerating Growth

Ryan Reynolds humorous, offbeat commercials helped both brands grow rapidly in both popularity and revenue. Throughout 2019, one year after Reynolds acquired a stake in the company, Aviation Gin went onto see a reported 85% increase in sales, with revenue exceeding $100m. In 2020, Reynolds sold Aviation Gin to Diageo for an estimated $610m, making the actor a significant profit.

Reynolds’ humorous advertisements, alongside Mint Mobile’s competitive pricing, helped the brand grow from a small, relatively unknown carrier with around 100,000 subscribers to a company valued at $1.35bn with 2m subscribers by 2020.

Ryan Reynolds has skilfully used his personal brand to build businesses by investing in companies and creating memorable advertising that play on his humour & relatability to engage audiences. This approach has allowed him to not only become a Hollywood A-lister but also a successful entrepreneur and investor.

Last year, we welcomed Eden Cuffe to MI Media as a senior account executive. In this Day in the Life, Eden shares his thoughts on how others starting in the industry can build their roles by becoming the person people ask for information, even if you don’t know the answer and why there’s no such thing as a worthless idea.

What led you to a career in media?

I started my career in advertising sales in my local village back home. I didn’t get much exposure to the agency world, but I enjoyed having conversations with different people and trying to secure the best benefits for them. I think media can look like all the work we’re doing is just for a brand, but I see it as also doing the work for the client team. Media is such a people-based industry that, if you get on with the teams you’re working with and do good work for them, you can form great relationships. Media is a small world and if you’re a dick, you’ll get found out, which I appreciate. I’ve also found it to be one of the more progressive sectors out there in terms of things like flexibility, hiring and sick pay.

Having worked in sales, I wanted to get more exposure to planning & implementation. Following a six-month stint at Channel 4, I moved to Manchester, where I went to university, and joined the team at Dentsu. The north has a really strong media landscape offering, you don’t need to be in London to be part of the industry. That being said, I wanted to move back down south to be closer to family and that’s what led me to my role as a senior account executive at MI Media.

What does a typical day look like for you?

It does vary but the main principles stay the same day-to-day. I grab an instant coffee every morning, maybe a bit of toast, then go through and prioritise my to do list for the day. My priorities can be anything from writing a report to interpreting a brief from a client to dissecting a schedule sent over by a media owner. I don’t find my days to be mundane or repetitive. We’re in a reactive industry, so we have to allow headspace for the unknown that might come into your inbox at any given notice. You could have a whole week planned out, but something could come through that will take priority and you have to be able to react well to that.

What is your proudest moment at MI?

Something that stands out at MI is there are a lot more in-person presentations. My proudest moments are when I get to present more of my work face-to-face as opposed to doing everything over Teams. There are different elements in presenting skills when you’re doing it in person. It feels more human, and that human element helps you create relationships. It also saves you from a lot of follow up emails, instead questions can be asked and discussed then and there in the room.

What advice would you give to someone looking to become an Senior Account Executive?

Back yourself on the knowledge you have. An idea that you have in your head might sound bonkers, but asking the question and giving insights based on your experiences can introduce different conversations around how to do something. There’s no linear, one-way approach to doing a task, so don’t be afraid to speak up. No knowledge is worthless knowledge, no idea is a worthless idea. Back yourself and raise your voice in a call or meeting. You’ll regret it if you don’t.

I’d also say you should become the go-to person. Get your name out there with media owners and go to events. Be the person people ask for information. Even if you don’t know the answer, get the question and ask people in your agency that will know.

What mistake have you learnt the most from?

There isn’t such a thing as a fuck up. At the end of the day, what we’re doing isn’t life or death. But when it’s busy, it’s sometimes difficult to remember that. Mistakes are a good thing, it means you’re trying. It goes back to the fact that media is a people industry. If you do something wrong; miss a deadline or don’t present something the way you want to, everyone’s human and you will learn from it.

For me, I didn’t speak up as much as I wanted to when I first started. You might think your ideas are stupid but when you say it, someone responds with an ‘oh, I hadn’t thought of that’ and it’s proven to be useful. So back your own knowledge and don’t be afraid.