I am damn sure we all had our share of laughs watching Bold Care’s new ad starring Ranveer Singh. The melodramatic plot, the storyline, exaggerated dialogues, and brilliantly crafted comic-coded phrases left us all floored. Using TV serial references, they simply nailed in adapting to the new meme wave. Talking about meme wave, the meme scene in the country is as diverse as its name, from redhead girl Dua to (bald) Ganji Chudail and from Kaleshi Kitchen to Kokila’s blasphemous Rasoda, we’ve all laughed it off! But things take a turn when brands come in picture, almost all brands have adhered to the meme culture and most things are getting memeified.
A major chunk of marketing products is meme-dependent these days. Everyone is getting their meme-tactic on, after the visible success of brands like Swiggy, Durex, Duo Lingo etc. Also not to forget the daddy, Amul India, which has been meme marketing since the dawn of creation.
What does meme mean and what is its history?
Unless you aren’t living under a rock you might be very familiar with what memes are. But let me give you some history lesson for starters. Shock warning ahead! (just giving you a heads up because I was as shocked as you will be, while writing this)
Meme word was coined by a biologist, and it has its own connections to Bio! Reportedly, memes are like genes and arguably they undergo a process of selection, replication, and mutation, much like any other biological organism.
Why are memes so popular and why do brands use them?
Memes are these culturally relevant, up-to-the-minute, hilarious, cringe-worthy viruses which invade one community and satisfy its humour hunger. It is contagious! And anything that’s contagious is popular, remember covid? Here we also have the answer to why brands use it, duh! (somebody please play Popular by The Weeknd)
Let’s decode the branding strategy hidden in humour:
What is the agenda?
Brands aren’t just selling stuff anymore, they're on a quest to be the coolest cats in the digital town. They want to be cool, relevant, and updated. They want conversations to sizzle and spark.
How is it helping them?
One, it improves brand visibility and awareness. Second, it builds culture-connection with the consumers boosting loyalty, familiarity, and trust.
The ways/tools:
Commentary?
Whoever said your opinions don’t matter, was wrong. Because opinions do matter, that’s why an entire comments section exists. It is up to you to use it or ignore it, however, suits you well!
But brands don’t lack on it! I’m sure you would’ve noticed at least one brand that is actively commenting on other reels and sassily replying to all the comments on their page. Take Duo Lingo for that matter; such savage replies will make you go complete all of them lessons. While Swiggy and other brands aren’t leaving crumbs either, commenting on already viral reels is a great source of free publicity.
Influencer marketing
Trust me I also envy all of them luxuries (crying emoji), but the influencer marketing I am talking here is about people whose content has intentionally or unintentionally gone viral, actual meme makers. Brands quickly surf them out and put on a collab with such meme materials. Because it’s a fact, memes get more views and clicks than regular content.
I remember watching the cute redhead girl, Dua’s videos online, which used to be about her and her complaints to her papaji, but now the brand packages have started to pop-up in their videos after they went viral.
(RRR) Reimagining Repurposing Remixing
Recently on my internet voyage, I stumbled upon a video by Mumbai Police, which was an already viral video of school kids singing the “Butterfly butterfly, where are you going” poem, but this was a shorter version of the original video where they cropped it till, where are you going part, and repurposed it with a caption that says, “Not everyone needs to know where you are going, stop sharing your location online”. They brilliantly slipped in the important message to everyone while we thought we were watching a viral video.
While Mumbai Police’s Instagram is popular for such content, we also know how Yashraj Mukhate has been remixing viral content into more viral songs ultimately bursting out into major trends.
Many cringe-worthy pages that I come across on Instagram daily have become a part of my entertainment ecosystem. And I’m sure it’s the case with many people and brands don’t hesitate to slip in some promo or branding with such videos/content. Be it individuals, brands(small+big), civil services, schools, hospitals almost all sectors are hopping on memes, and meme marketing has indeed become the centre of everything!
Let me slip a special mention for my readers right here, Jasmeen Kaur a boutique owner, took us all in with her infectious energy and trademark phrase, "Just looking like a wow," little did she know that this phrase would turn her into an unexpected meme celebrity. Before she could stitch another salwar, celebrities like Deepika Padukone hopped on the Jasmeen train, using her quirky audio to add a touch of desiness to their social media posts. What began as a simple marketing tactic for her boutique soon transformed Jasmeen into the reigning meme queen of the online world, proving that sometimes, all it takes to go viral is a dash of desi charm and a whole lot of wow!
This crumbling piece of an article that I am writing reminds me of one song, “Jahan main jaati hu wahi chale aate ho” which translates to - Wherever I go you follow me. It’s the same case with memes and market, every other brand marketing is running behind memes, this also makes me smile for a bit because their relationship is cute and romantic. So, remember memers, you all are the crown jewels of an ever-emerging industry. As I said previously, contagious things get popular, and happiness has big energy so keep an eye on the next meme-worthy material and keep memeing and memeifying!