VistaPrint expands ties to Wrexham AFC, unveils fake testimonial from dragon-themed small business

Maximum Effort’s parody video comes as VistaPrint commits to being the team’s back-of-shirt sponsor

Published On
Aug 04, 2023
Actress Mary Kelly playing fictional small-business owner Gwen Griffiths in VistaPrint’s new ad

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Wrexham AFC, the English football club purchased in 2021 by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, are on their way up—having secured promotion to League Two after 15 years in non-league competition. Which means more revenues—and surely more creative marketing, if Reynolds has his way.

The latest news coming out Wrexham (which has been on a pre-season tour in the U.S. of late) is that it expanded its partnership with VistaPrint. The company was the club’s sleeve sponsor last year, but has now upgraded to back-of-shirt sponsor, where its logo will appear thoughout the upcoming season.

To celebrate, the brand worked with Reynolds’ ad agency Maximum Effort on a spot that rolled out this week—featuring a small business that uses VistaPrint services. But not just any small business—a food brand called Dragon Jerky, which has apparently been operating in Wales for the past 11,000 years.

 

The spot is a tad convoluted—it’s not easy to fit VistaPrint, Wrexham and a third, fake brand into a piece like this and have it feel seamless. But Mary Kelly does a nice job of playing Gwen Griffiths, Dragon Jerky’s owner, and the video adequately captures VistaPrint’s services for actual small businesses.

How the actual company Dragon Jerky feels is surely another matter.

Along with its back-of-shirt sponsor, Wrexham has also switched up its front-of-shirt sponsor for the upcoming season—with United Airlines stepping in for TikTok.