• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, December 8, 2021

Maybe TV advertising isn’t all that joyous.

According to film actor Ryan Reynolds, as well as a business executive of a growing number of media and ad-related companies, advertising “should be fun.”

MNTN, where Reynolds is the Chief Creative Officer, is starting a Creative-As-A-Subscription service for those creators who want to simplify the process -- especially when it comes to cost. Also, the company want to make advertising “simpler, funner and faster.”

So I’m thinking in part of MNTN (pronounced as “Mountain”) vision might be what equates to big time, attention-getting Super Bowl-like advertising -- marketing content that viewers might talk about the next day on social media. (Reynolds was a co-founder of Maximum Effort Marketing, which merged with MNTN earlier this year.)

This isn’t to say MNTN won’t suggest media planning and buying activities as well, per its site. That in turn, could complicate things, and thus defeat the whole simpler approach.

We know how complex, difficult and frustrating modern media planning and buying can be in this disruptive, fractional media world. Somehow, “fun” doesn’t reveal itself in many messages.

Much of Reynolds' premise comes amid an explosion of TV and film content on TV networks/premium streamers -- this as the burgeoning TV and movie production budgets and schedules keep climbing.

Does a simpler creative advertising approach really mean winging it -- perhaps like the 1960s and 1970s, when executives could sketch out creative executions on the back of a cocktail napkin?

That might be charming and romantic. The premise here is that advertising creative has become too risk-averse.

Wondering if AT&T’s “It’s not complicated” is headed in that new direction. But is that TV commercial fun? Surely the theme line suggests stuff needs to be easier, when buying a mobile phone service and determining data loads, what new phones are available, and how much to pay.

From a great height, Reynolds does make some sense. The devil-may-care effort around creativity should be celebrated. He even equated advertising, as many have done in the past, to taking in a good movie or TV show.

Reynolds says advertising should be about “escapism.” So I’m guessing a TV commercial break is more akin to short meditation to clear one’s head -- from other TV/movie content.