Celebrity charity efforts rarely get much attention on the creative marketing front.
Sure, they're great and appreciated, but typically they just boil down to awkward, forgettable celebrity-brand partnerships with stars saying things like "and that's why I'm partnering with Verizon to help horses learn to read."
Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, however, are showing that you can launch a pretty massive charity effort while still building a brand and giving consumers something to care about.
The famous frienemies today launched a promotion with Sam's Club called "The Feud," which lets you be on either Team Hugh or Team Ryan by buying product from the brands they own: Laughing Man Coffee and Aviation Gin, respectively. The result will be donations by Sam's Club to their preferred charities, the Laughing Man Foundation for Hugh and SickKids Foundation for Ryan.
You can read all about it (and watch the hilarious promotional videos) here.
Here's something that a lot of folks won't notice but I certainly appreciate, though:
You know how sometimes a company is like, "For every retweet, we'll donate $1 to the children's hospital," and you're thinking, "Why not just...give them the money? You're really going to say, 'Sorry, kids, but we only got 73 retweets, so we're going to pocket the other $196,927'?"
In this case, thankfully, the "contest" aspect is all just in fun. Sam's is planning to donate the same amount to both charities regardless of the vote count. That's good news for Team Ryan, since gin can only be purchased at Sam's in 24 states, and coffee is generally legal everywhere."
What celebrity charity efforts have you been fond of and wish you'd see more of? Let me know at the email below or at @Griner on Twitter.
David Griner
Creative and Innovation Editor, Adweek
David.Griner@Adweek.com
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