Memejacking Part Deux: The Delayed Reaction
February 1st, 2012I feel like a lot of people in my circle of friends are hip to memes. It’s seldom now that I have to send a link when I reference the latest internet phenomena. They spread rapidly across multiple networks and channels within the internet without the aid of a publicist in a completely democratic way.
And what’s great about memes is their ability to make people feel like they have content ownership over something they don’t really own. Trending memes are commodities, and everyone wants to feel like they’ve ‘greenlit’ the content when they decide to share it.
This seems like the perfect opportunity for advertisers to step in and relate to their audience. Suddenly, ADT Home Security is masquerading as your best friend and re-posting the Bed Intruder video. ADT wants you to know, “Hey! We’re cool! We have a sense of humor! But we still take home security very seriously. Hide your kids, hide your wife, but don’t hide your wallet because we’re having a sale!”
Maybe that was a bad hypothetical example. Let’s look at some real-world figures:
I’d never seen this ad, but it’s legit. Notice Rebecca Black’s popularity peak on Google Trends.
That would be nearly immediately after her appearance on Good Morning America in mid March of 2011. Now, this Black Friday ad would have run in late November. Well past Rebecca Black’s prime.
Just for a control element, let’s see what happens when we look up a popular meme and image macro, “courage wolf”.
Courage Wolf’s popularity never sharply declined. It’s sustaining really well.
Why? Because Courage Wolf has not yet been co-opted by Generation-X’ers to try to tap into a market they don’t understand. And what’s most disappointing is that memes typically see greater success by being of poorer quality. If Rebecca Black’s “Friday” had been produced by Dr. Dre and the video shot by Michel Gondry, she wouldn’t be a living joke. If the Tron Guy (Jay Maynard) worked out and had a more complex costume, he would just be a cool photo on some dude’s Flickr.
Speaking of the Tron Guy, let’s look at his popularity graph and compare it to a commercial for Duct Tape he starred in airing in late August 2011.
And lastly, let’s look at Dr. Pepper’s use of Tay Zonday’s “Chocolate Rain”.
There is no incentive in polishing a meme, but advertisers feel the need to dress it up because they hold their brands in such high esteem. And so we reach a fork in the road; use the meme as-is and risk becoming the next Faygo, or dress it up to where it’s barely recognizable and pander to your newly-betrayed audience.
The solution? Turn around. Memes are one type of trend that are tricky – at best – to integrate. Stop it. You’re killing meme.







