I don't know about you guys, but I've tried a lot of things to get Ryan Gosling to show up at my place of employement, but nothing's ever worked. Tweeting at him, e-mailing his publicist, showing up uninvited at his house late at night, begging a judge to overturn a restraining order... legally, I can't tell you the lengths to which I would go.
All to no avail.
What do you have to do to get Ryan Gosling to show up? Perhaps I should take a cue from this café out in Canada, who tweeted at Ryan Gosling to hilarious effect, with plenty of persistence and no small amount of creativity, and wouldn't you know... he showed up! Let's dive right in, and see exactly how this café did it.
Joelle Murray, as you might have guessed, is a massive fan of Ryan Gosling. She's also the owner of Grinder Toronto, and she decided to combine her twin passions after hearing that the star of The Notebook, Drive and La La Land (and Canadian native) was going to be in Toronto for the Toronto International Film Festival.
So, Murray took to Twitter, and with the help of a hashtag, she asked Ryan Gosling to give Grinder a visit.
Now, this is the kind of thing that every café with a hint of social media savvy will do, and the Ryan Gosling Twitter account probably gets tons of requests like this, from plenty of other people who have tried everything (and I mean everything) to get Gosling to show up.
So, in order to get an appearance from Ryan Gosling, Grinder had to step up their game. And step up their game they did. You know that cardboard cutout of Ryan Gosling in that tweet above? Well, Grinder thought it would be a good idea to get a high-ranking Toronto celebrity to convince Gosling to come to their humble café - and who better in that situation than the Mayor of Toronto himself?!
Pictured: John Tory, aforementioned Mayor of Toronto, and a Ryan Gosling cardboard cutout. Not pictured: Ryan Gosling. Or, like, subtlety. "Got my morning coffee at @GrinderCoffeeTO today and checked out their campaign to get @RyanGosling to visit during @TIFF_NET," John Tory said - would it be enough to get Gosling to show up?
Not yet - but Grinder weren't finished. Not by a long shot. So it was time to step up this Twitter campaign, and Grinder decided the best way to get Gosling to come would be a sustained Twitter effort - with 10 days of sustained tweeting from Grinder and all of their employees.
On the fourth day, Grinder posted a ton of selfies taken by employees with the Ryan Gosling cardboard cutout, with the accompanying tease: "think of the fun you could have taking selfies with a selfie." Day five gave Gosling detailed directions on how to get to Grinder, in case he might get lost, and on day six, they tucked the cutout into a massage table.
Then, on day eight, they finally broke through.
That's right - Ryan Gosling must have caught wind, and Joelle Murray got to have her selfie with Ryan Gosling - doing something that I only wish I could have done. Good on you, Joelle! Teach me your secrets of getting Ryan Gosling to show up. I still have hope yet.
