Mint Mobile celebrates The Golden Bachelor with aged Heidi Montag & Spencer Pratt
An elderly version of the iconic reality TV couple promotes the value of good communication – even when struggling to use technology effectively.
Mint Mobile is celebrating the launch of ABC’s new The Golden Bachelor – a reimagined version of the network’s iconic matchmaking show starring senior singles – with an ad featuring Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt, one of the OG couples of reality TV.
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Poking fun at the premise of The Golden Bachelor, the 30-second spot sees ‘Speidi’ looking a bit older than they did when they fell in love on MTV’s The Hills in the aughts. “It’s hard for people to believe a reality TV couple can stay together for over 15 years,” Montag gushes. “‘Cuz it’s like 45 in regular couple years,” pipes a liver-spotted Pratt.
The key to 15-plus years of bliss? Communication, Montag explains. “That’s why we use Mint Mobile,” Pratt loudly overpronounces. The brand continues to chaff stereotypes about older folks as Pratt struggles to call his wife using dictated commands to his cell phone.
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For Mint Mobile – whose parent company Ka’ena Corporation was acquired by T-Mobile earlier this year, helping to grow the provider’s market share – the choice to chime in on the launch of The Golden Bachelor was a natural one. “When it comes to advertising,” the company’s chief marketing officer Aron North tells The Drum, “Mint likes to play in big cultural moments. The Bachelor franchise has been generating fans for more than two decades. With the buzz around this season’s Golden Bachelor, we thought what better way to get in on the conversation – and amp up Mint’s affordable wireless service – than with a couple straight out of reality royalty?”
Mint Mobile, owned in part by A-lister and ad industry darling Ryan Reynolds, worked with Reynolds’s production company Maximum Effort to create the campaign. “The Bachelor franchise has created countless amazing moments over the years and it was immediately apparent The Golden Bachelor would be no exception,” says George Dewey, co-founder of Maximum Effort. “We wanted to create a custom moment that would playfully honor the show, the franchise and reality TV in general. Enter ‘Speidi!’”
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Maximum Effort is a powerhouse of cheeky, of-the-moment ads for not only Mint Mobile, but also Match Group (of which the actor holds a board seat), Reynolds’ gin brand Aviation American Gin, his wife Blake Lively’s sparkling soda brand Betty Buzz and other brands.
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