As Cillian Murphy said, “What’s a meme?” to one, ‘Dress to impress’, ‘raise your YA YA YA’, ‘lookalike contest’, ‘U i i a a u i i a u cat’, ‘bunny painting’, ‘mama, there’s a girl behind you
’ might sound like random buzzwords. However, to another, they are things that would make them turn to their friends, bursting out laughing. Those silly buzzwords—memes—are sacred timestamps showing how human the human culture is.
As a Gen Z individual, I have a deep understanding of Gen Z meme culture, which is characterized by its quick, unhinged, defiant, and random nature. Humor is an essential part of humanity, with the first recorded joke dating back to 1900 BCE – and it was about flatulence! It’s clear that memes have been, and will continue to be, intertwined with every aspect of our culture, especially in today’s world. As culture and marketing are inherently linked, we should recognize and consider the significant role that memes play in our culture.
As the world evolves, the brilliant minds of human beings have given us more than enough. In an era where social media is one of the strongest forms of communications, we are in an era where everything is in the most fast-changing states, ever.
New inventions, new facilities, new technology, one of the prevalent ones is ‘Tiktok’. The rise of TikTok contributes to the rise of short form content, influencing and changing customer’s media consumption behavior – for better or for worse.
Marketing used to be crafted, drafted and thorough, but in a time where contents are endless, it’s a call for a new era of marketing. Now, marketing is all about response, response and response – to culture. It’s immediate and relatable.
When I say leveraging EVERY internet meme, Duolingo means it – and they have been doing so since 2021. This green owl has grown over 7 million followers on TikTok by 2024, by posting memes and being sassy on the internet. Is that it? Duolingo “meme marketing” is not just about posting popular memes, it’s about responses. Duolingo would take immediate action to a new-born internet sensation, whether it’s by making content or answering comments using popular slang. What made them the face of brands with meme marketing is their consistency. As soon as you see a new meme on your feed, it is without a doubt that Duolingo has already leveraged it.
However, Duolingo does not use just any meme, it needs to be special and relatable – especially to their target audience (GenZ). As you could say ‘the girls who get it, get it’. Duolingo portrays how knowing your target is crucial. Who would have thought posting an edit of their brand mascot to a singing instructor shouting ‘raise your ya ya ya’ would make you gain 600,000 likes on a video?
Watch here!
Marc Jacobs is a luxury brand known for its unpredictable and original style. Their primary target is GenZ. However, the words “luxury brand” and “Gen Z” might not be the best combination. In an age where being unhinge is the norm, Marc Jacobs has set up the most unhinged brand collaboration for a luxury brand ever – Slushy noobz x Marc Jacob
Slushy noobz (Hamzah and Martin) is a Youtube channel with 600,000 subscribers known for their quirky and satire humour. They always generate, and reference memes – in a satirical way. Their collaboration with Marcs Jacobs stormed the fans by surprise, as it is “unpredictable” and “random”. Why would a luxury brand have a collaboration with 2 men who joke about fart and Minecraft on a daily basis? Even the collaboration video displayed the two grown men fighting about the game Minecraft, getting violent with each other, knocking out the green screen, revealing themselves to be in a Marcs Jacobs store.
It is unhinged, and that is the point. Marc Jacobs is breaking free from the stereotype of luxury brands – polished, traditional and crafted. They have done so by leveraging meme personality, showing off their unpredictable and relatable side. Striking the internet by storm, people question the choice of collaboration, creating genuine engagement and blurring the line between the word “Luxury brand” and “GenZ”.
Firstly, meme marketing is a way to connect brands with an audience, ‘humanizing the brand’. How can we tell whether someone is best friends? They laugh at the same thing! That’s what meme marketing comes into play for brands.
Secondly, as stated, Gen Z is defying, random and unhinged, they feel drawn to ‘imperfect images’ – as it shows relatability and genuineness. Being relatable does not mean doing similar things as them, it means understanding the culture, especially of our target.
Lastly, as marketers, we always think about values that we potentially could provide for the customer. Humour is something one often looks over in brand value. Brands could create a genuine connection with their customers by being their source of laughter.
At the end of the day, the success of meme marketing for a brand teaches us that ‘sometimes being imperfect might be perfect’. Brands are allowed to be more experimental with their marketing by meme marketing. Keeping up and having a deep understanding of culture could make your brand SLAY. Staying true to yourself while using humour to connect with customers is the point.
Let’s talk to us if your brand has any marketing needs.
Get memey, scroll on Tiktok, have a laugh – and mama, there’s a marketing campaign behind you
A post written by Phonpodee Chumkasien, Influencer Marketing Executive Intern at MOST 2414 and student at Chulalongkorn University. Reach out to me on LinkedIn.
Phonpordee Chumkasien
1015/29 Sukhumvit 71 Road,
Watthana, Bangkok 10110
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