Never underestimate the creative mind of Ryan Reynolds.
It was a wild ride this weekend for pop culture fans who finally got to see the first two episodes of the long-awaited Sex and the City sequel series And Just Like That… After Mr. Big (Chris Noth) suffered a deadly heart attack in the first episode after completing his 1,000th Peloton exercise bike session, the interactive fitness-program provider was put under the microscope and even saw its stock price fall.
But with help from Ryan's Maximum Effort marketing firm, Peloton was able to create its own story with a viral video.
"By pure luck, we'd been talking to Peloton about our Creative-as-a-Subscription product in the week before this all happened," Ryan shared with The Hollywood Reporter. "I literally met Dara [Treseder, CMO of Peloton] for the first time on Dec. 1. She emailed us right after the episode aired and we all knew just what to do."
The actor continued, "We try to do these things in a way where everyone wins—Peloton, Chris and the show itself."
In the commercial, Chris sits on a coach next to real-life Peloton instructor Jess King, who played Mr. Big's virtual coach Allegra on And Just Like That...
"You look great," she tells him, to which he replies, "Oh, I feel great. Shall we take another ride? Life's too short not to."
When the camera zooms back, two matching Peloton bikes are revealed. According to Ryan, the time from the ad's conception to cameras rolling was 24 hours. And yes, Chris was fully on board to participate.
"Chris was in right away, but it was a whirlwind, for all of us," Ryan told the publication. "I certainly helped secure Chris but Maximum Effort has built itself on challenges like these, so, while never ever easy, the secret is practice and not losing heart when challenges inevitably occur."
With more than a million views in just a matter of days, Ryan is in awe of the video's response. He's also proud to work on a project that doesn't hurt anyone's reputation.
"It's been really satisfying to work so hard so quickly towards something which is this much fun and have it work out," he said. "I think people like to see the spirit of Maximum Effort—that we want to have fun and bring people together but not ever at anyone's expense."