Elizabeth Banks and Archer Roose Launch a New Type of Book Club

Everyone knows that book clubs are just an excuse to get together with friends and drink wine. So, Archer Roose has decided to cut out the proverbial middleman by creating the Elizabeth Banks Book Club. The first-ever club of its kind where the books don’t actually matter.

Elizabeth Banks, Archer Roose co-owner and chief creative officer, is the latest Hollywood multi-hyphenate celebrity to launch a ‘book club’, in a :45 video announcing the initiative. On a mission to disrupt the wine industry with luxury wine in cans, Archer Roose takes the expected, conventional book club idea and flips it on its head. How? By highlighting the not-so-secret-secret of book clubs – they are an excuse to get friends together to enjoy wine. Banks and Archer Roose demonstrate this by featuring ‘books’ that don’t actually exist – such as 'How to Play the Violin Despite Your IBS', 'Riding a Bike is Hard. Tax Fraud is Easy' and 'Things Horses Care About' to name a few. 

“Our ‘club’,” says Elizabeth using air quotes, “is designed to get people right to the wine. It celebrates the camaraderie enjoyed with friends and Archer Roose.”

By following @archerroosewines, Instagram users automatically join 'the club.' They are encouraged to share the titles on their personal channels, stock up on Archer Roose and call their own ‘book club meeting’ (ie. an excuse to drink wine with friends.) They are also encouraged to brag about their participation in the program to gain the ‘smart person social clout’ that is associated with being in a book club. Throughout the summer, users can check out Archer Roose’s Instagram for additional playful book titles and ongoing social support around the book club.

“Now you can have a book club meeting with your friends or family and not have to worry about if you read the book or not,” says Archer Roose CEO Marian Leitner. “It’s all about the wine and not taking ourselves too seriously.” 

Created by Archer Roose's agency of record, Colossus (Boston, MA), this activation is another in a line of breakthrough creative executions. Since the inception of Banks’ partnership, Archer Roose & Colossus have successfully garnered attention by poking fun at marketing conventions. The team introduced Elizabeth Banks in Uninvited Guest where she forcibly made herself the brand spokesperson, launched the Archer Roose Rewards Program which offered to mail free snakes to anyone who purchased 100,000 cases of wine, and unsuccessfully visited the Metaverse to show that wine is best enjoyed in real life.

“Drinking wine doesn’t have to be so stuffy” says Greg Almeida, ECD at Colossus, “We try to make it fun and accessible. Would you rather stand around and talk about tannins, or hang out with friends and pretend to read a book about horse emotions? Your answer says a lot about what kind of wine drinker you are.” 

Archer Roose is pioneered by women (a women-owned and -operated company). For this production, Colossus helped champion progress in the male-dominated production industry by using a largely female crew, director and editor. 

The “Elizabeth Banks Book Club from Archer Roose” video can be seen here and the web experience can be found (here) and on (Instagram.)