Rob Thomas fills in for Rob McElhenney in Aviation Gin’s latest Wrexham AFC spot

Among his various marketing skills, Ryan Reynolds is particularly adept at the crossover promotion involving multiple brands in which he has a stake. (Remember the Samsung-Netflix-Aviation Gin spot from a few years back?) The latest example is Aviation’s amusing spots around its partnership with Welsh football club Wrexham AFC. A new Aviation spot dropped Tuesday morning starring Reynolds and his friend Rob—but it’s not Rob McElhenney, Reynolds’ fellow Wrexham co-chairman. Turns out McElhenney is legally prohibited from appearing in Aviation Gin ads—probably because he has his own whiskey brand (which, by the way, recently unveiled its own comic ad that just happened to refer to multinational alcohol companies—e.g., Aviation owner Diaego—as “huge, evil corporations”). Instead, Reynolds brings in another Rob friend—the singer Rob Thomas. The spot was created by Maximum Effort, produced by Loon Productions and directed by Oren Brimer. It’s airing nationally on FX and Hulu, home to the soccer documentary “Welcome to Wrexham,” now in its second season. Reynolds and Max Effort have been busy on the Wrexham front, having also created a series of spots airing on FX and Hulu during “Welcome to Wrexham” episodes. See three of those spots below. Our favorite is “Flower Shop,” which has some fun with the seemingly generous (though ultimately a bit self-serving, if you make a fuss about it) practice of donating advertising time to a local business.

Rob Thomas fills in for Rob McElhenney in Aviation Gin’s latest Wrexham AFC spot

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