Ryan Reynolds gives a not-so-motivational speech in first ad for 1Password

“Friday Night Lights,” “Hoosiers,” “Remember the Titans” or practically any sports film you’ve ever seen all come down to that one tear-to-cheer moment when the underdog sports team rallies to victory thanks to a rousing speech from their coach. At this point, one could easily Mad-Libs their own Oscar-worthy locker room talk to equal success—unless you’re Ryan Reynolds. In a new spot, Reynolds is the center of multiple firsts: the first ad for cyber security brand 1Password, the first time the soccer team Reynolds co-owns with Rob McElhenney, Wrexham A.F.C., has appeared in an ad and the first time a motivational coach speech has been a total flop. Created by Reynolds’ agency Maximum Effort, the commercial features all the tropes: the dashing actor walking in slow-motion across the pitch, he looks pensively across the stadium and finds inspiration via voiceover as he thumps a soccer ball. But when it actually comes down to revving up his team, Reynolds gets a bit tongue tied. “We’ve got a big match coming up and I know what you’re worried about,” says the star as he bursts into the locker room. “Cyber security.” The team, played by Wrexham A.F.C.'s real players, looks perplexed as Reynolds delivers the pitch for 1Password’s password storing capabilities, but soon the confusion shifts to Reynolds as it turns out the team not only knows what 1Password is, they already use it. “Idiot,” whispers one player. Reynolds rushes at him and whispers, noses touching, “I will shove a red card so far up your ass, people will think it’s your tongue.” Not your typical Hollywood ending. “When the opportunity to create 1Password’s first-ever commercial came up, we knew we had to go big," said Ram Sarkar, CMO at 1Password, in a statement. "So many organizations lose sight of the fact that the end-consumer is human at the end of the day. We wanted to double down on our vision of human-centric security and lean into humor for our ad to make cybersecurity more accessible to the everyday person.” The ad will run on social and connected TV via MNTN, the adtech firm that acquired Maximum Effort last year with Reynolds as its chief creative officer.

Ryan Reynolds gives a not-so-motivational speech in first ad for 1Password

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