Alexandra Jardine: what, like it’s hard? Why Reese Witherspoon is a branding genius.
Cannes is always good for a celeb spot; you could take your pick from talks from a whole array including Seal, Will.i.am, Jimmy Fallon and Ryan Reynolds yesterday, while the streets around the Croisette are clogged with their armoured cars.
But among all the very male energy, a very different kind of star stood out. Reese Witherspoon is a powerhouse. One of a new generation of actresses that have managed to morph from ingenue to controlling their own narrative (Margot Robbie is another) the star of Legally Blonde set up her production company, Hello Sunshine, after constantly being sent scripts that were “just incredibly demoralising and borderline misogynistic.”
Witherspoon had the insight to see that when women were spending serious money on books by authors like Liane Moriarty they had the potential to make popular and engaging drama, placing women at the centre of the story. And men were ignoring them. Her shows, like Big Little Lies and Little Fires Everywhere, have changed all that.
It’s a lesson for brands. And they can also get involved, because now she also sees the potential to partner with them in targeting untapped audiences in a powerful way.
Speaking yesterday in the Palais with e.l.f. Beauty CMO Kory Marchisotto, Witherspoon has all the marketing jargon (at one point she said, “We’re nimble enough to pivot.”) But her insights are spot on.
She has seen, she said, the “power of partnership” through how her projects, like the Morning Show, have boosted other actors’ careers (Jennifer Aniston for instance). And that also works for brands. That’s why e.l.f. partnered with her two Gen Z nieces (known as “Reese’s nieces”) on a Roblox activation last year. and it’s now the anchor sponsor of her new venture, a Gen Z -focused sister company to Hello Sunshine called Sunnie. It involves an advisory board of teenage girls and aims to forge a community of young women focused on their needs.
Witherspoon has spotted that Gen Z women have powerful voices and aren’t always communicated with by brands in the authentic way that they crave. “So many young people today…. don’t feel seen, especially in the media,” she said on stage.
Comedian and Chicken Shop dates star Amelia Dimoldenberg, who has also spoken at Cannes, is another example of a woman who’s calling this out; she acknowledged in her session that she appeals directly to young women because she controls her content absolutely, and doesn’t have to go through layers of (male) approval in order to put things out into the world.
As Elle Woods says in Legally Blonde, “What, like it’s hard?”
Alexandra Jardine is head of creative strategy at Persuasion Communications. She is the former creativity editor of Ad Age.
