Laughter prolongs the life of brands: how funny pictures help to promote
Funny pictures and cats move the world. And it’s far from a secret. We at the Monty Agency decided to dig deeper to understand what memes are, why they are so popular, and how brands use them to market quickly and easily.
What is a meme?
The word meme itself is far from new. Back in 1976, the word was first introduced as a term by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in his book “The Selfish Gene. His interpretation of meme meant a unit of cultural information that is transmitted from person to person.
And since the word meme entered the scientific environment, it is logical that further began to appear various theories about consciousness and culture, which later turned into a whole scientific direction – memetics. Yes, we were also shocked when we learned that there was such a science. So, do not rush to tell someone in jest that he is a memologist, because somewhere are sitting real memologists and talk about quite scientific topics.
So what is a meme today? In simple terms – it is an emotion transmitted online in the form of pictures, audio messages and gestures. For the completeness of the emotions and there are so-called memes.
Why are memes so popular?
Everyone loves funny pictures “on topic,” especially when they perfectly correlate with a person’s inner state. Think about it, how many times have you associated yourself with a funny picture? And how many times have you been sent such pictures with the message “that’s you”? It is likely that in your life was a lot.
Humor helps our brains relax, lift our spirits, and gives us a sense of belonging to the common, causing us to think “I’m not the only one.”
Memes stay in our memory because they touch us and evoke emotion. The simpler the picture, the more it affects us. We end up repeating them, and memes go viral and get violated everywhere.
This works not only between people, but also between people and brands. Many companies, even very large and serious ones, have at least once thought about creating their own or using existing memes for content strategy.
Viral marketing ~ meme marketing
Good content with a meme is viral content that will be willingly shared.
But it’s not that simple here. You have two choices: either the meme will go viral or it will gather dust in your account. Not many people can create a really great meme, so the likelihood that it will go viral is pretty small. But if you succeed, you’ll get a flurry of attention and rapport with your audience.
Why and how do brands use memes?
A meme is a good way to grab attention, get closer to your audience and influence your brand image. It’s useful for both “old timers” and very young companies.
How to make a meme relevant and working for the benefit of the brand?
Topical memes are those that touch on current topics and can be associated with people. If a company understands what’s trending right now, and how to adapt it for itself, it can create viral content that goes viral on social media. It will be commented on, saved and forwarded to friends.
A brand can always use existing blanks for a meme. And in order to establish themselves as “young and active” for a long time, brands develop their own characters for memes that are directly associated with the brand.