The $1.35B Question Every Growth Brand Should be Asking
Why did it work for Ryan Reynolds and not Messi?
In 2023, Ryan Reynolds sold Mint Mobile to T-Mobile for upwards of $1.35B. It was a true “best case scenario” for a growing brand: Reynolds joined the already-in-motion brand in 2019, added his face, voice, and unique sense of humor to the marketing, and walked away with roughly $300M from his 25% stake. He didn’t found the company or invent the pricing model, but he provided Mint Mobile with the exposure needed to carve out a piece of a crowded market for itself. And in exchange the founders gave him a major piece of the pie.
On the other side of the coin, two major celebrity-driven beverage brands, Messi’s Mas+ and Alex Cooper’s Unwell, both just shut down. These two founders had more combined reach than most marketing budgets could buy, and yet neither could get the customer to come back for a second bottle.
Every leader of a growing brand right now is weighing a version of this critical question: are we a famous face away from the next big brand, or are there deeper issues?
Reach Buys Trial, But it doesn’t Buy Loyalty
Whether it’s mobile devices, beverages, or any other consumer good, the market is seemingly crowded with both large and niche brands. Every price point, every flavor, every benefit claim, etc. is accounted for by the competition, so what is a new entrant to do?
A famous face certainly can get a shopper to try something new out of curiosity, but the one thing it can’t do make your product taste, feel, or deliver differently than the competition. That requires true innovation: finding a way to deliver new value to consumers by solving problems and providing new benefits.
True brand loyalty comes from an alignment between what the consumer wants or needs, and what the product delivers – in a way that is different from what anyone else can. Without that, products become indistinguishable from one another, and price becomes the main purchasing driver.
Commoditized Celebrity
There was a time when celebrity-attached brands were rare, and their association to a new product drove real growth. But in today’s age of the influencer, celebrity endorsement has become a commodity. Everyone has a brand, and everyone wants you to buy it.
Not only is it crowded, it’s expensive. Every dollar paid to a spokesperson has to come from somewhere, and that’s money not spent on R&D, innovation, or going straight to the bottom line.
So if you’re considering a celebrity attachment to your brand, make sure your product has a strong foundation and isn’t overly reliant on a famous person to give you a boost.
Here are two case studies on how to do it right:
Casamigos hasn’t thrived solely due to Clooney's fame. The product fills a real void in the market: a tequila engineered to sip smooth instead of burn while being priced for a bar tab, not a trophy shelf.
Diageo paid up to $1B for it in 2017, and by 2020 it was moving over a million cases a year, years after the deal's news cycle had ended. That's repeat business, not a first-purchase spike.
Fenty Beauty solved an actual supply problem that had nothing to do with Rihanna’s fame: a lack of darker foundation shades the mainstream beauty industry had ignored for decades.
But because of her reach, the brand skyrocketed into a household name –$100M in the first 40 days, $550–570M in year one. The key piece of the puzzle: it's still doing $600M+ annually. People keep buying it because it matches their skin; not because of who’s on the poster.
THE CELEBRITY READINESS TEST
Before you sign on an expensive, equity-holding celebrity to your brand, ask yourself these questions:
1. Strip the name off. Does the product still win?
If the taste, price, formulation, or performance beats the category without a famous face attached, celebrity money can amplify something real. If not, no amount of reach fixes a commodity problem; it just buys a more expensive commodity.
2. Does the fame match the audience, or are they just big?
Clooney sells spirits because people believe he actually drinks them. Rihanna would still be a beauty icon without a brand-deal. An athlete's or podcaster’s name on a beverage with no connection their life isn't relevance – it's rented reach.
3. Does the product inspire consumer loyalty, even at small scale?
Mint Mobile was growing before Reynolds showed up. Casamigos was Clooney's actual house tequila for years before it launched commercially. Prove the product earns a second purchase in a small pond first. Then use celebrity spend to scale proof, not manufacture it.
4. Does the fee still leave room for margin once the hype fades?
Run the numbers assuming the celebrity drives zero incremental repeat purchase — because in reality, that’s the end state. If the business doesn't work under that assumption, you don't have a brand. You have a media buy with inventory risk.
If you’re answering three or four "yes" answers, a well-matched celebrity can scale something already working. Miss more than one, and no amount of fame fixes it; focus on the product first.
Zero Point Strategy helps companies identify those unique growth opportunities and unmet consumer needs to drive organic brand growth. And, best of all, we won’t take a $300M cut when you make it big.
