What started as a chap sharing jokes on Facebook has morphed into a digital media company that now has corporate giants queuing up for a slice of their meme magic. Rajnikanth Vs CID Jokes (now known as RVCJ Media), founded in 2010, has proven that one can indeed make a career out of sharing funny pictures on the internet—and quite a lucrative one at that.

The company's journey began when Facebook was still the new kid on the block, emerging from the ashes of Orkut. RVCJ's founder, Shahid Javed, had a penchant for sharing jokes via SMS (remember those?), when someone suggested he take his comedic talents to Facebook instead.

Thus a meme page was born, and soon after, other founding members joined in, including Aziz Khan, who is now the CRO of RVCJ Media; Ankit Mor, who is the CCO; Harpreet Singh, who is the CTO, and Pooja Sachdev, who is the co-founder.

“When it all started, there were no plans of monetisation. However, since our page saw a lot of success in the early years, we started making money via affiliate marketing. Brands such as Snapdeal would pay us Rs 500-600 per post at the time,” says Aziz Khan. 

 Little did they know this casual suggestion would spawn a social media empire that now boasts a whopping 65 million followers across all platforms, which is a major component of RVCJ Media’s operations, with a revenue of Rs 40-50 crore. 

Currently, RVCJ Media has a follower count of 13 million on Instagram, 15 million on Facebook, about a million followers on X (formerly Twitter), and nearly 3.5 million subscribers on YouTube, while also holding multiple other popular pages for sports, entertainment, and some regional content.

By the way, the christening of the page is indicative of the memeing climate of the early 2010s–when CID jokes ran rampant, and Rajnikanth’s Robot film was doing rounds on the internet. The founders abbreviated it to RVCJ once the brands showed up, reveals Khan. 

What RVCJ does

"We are the pioneers of meme marketing in India with hundreds of meme campaigns under our belt. There are many brands that are closely working with us, including HUL, Britannia, Zomato, Cadbury, and many more."

Aziz Khan, RVCJ

At its core, RVCJ specialises in amplifying brand campaigns through memes and branded content, leveraging its substantial social media following. A recent example of their approach can be seen in their work on PUMA's Orry Not Invited campaign. 

The campaign, which played on the exclusivity of a PUMA party attended by celebrities such as Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli, created a playful narrative around social media personality Orry's supposed non-invitation.

The campaign began with provocative hoardings declaring, "Orry is not invited", which was then amplified by RVCJ through strategic content distribution across its platforms, including over 130 social media posts and 50 creative pieces.

While this strategy serves as the core of its business, RVCJ has also diversified its offerings with content marketing and influencer marketing. The agency worked on Maruti Suzuki’s Nexa festive campaign last year, collaborating with seven regional mega and macro influencers, which included creators such as Preeti Sarkar, Motor Octane, Hani Musthafa, and Chetna Pande, among others.

“We are the pioneers of meme marketing in India with hundreds of meme campaigns under our belt. There are many brands that are closely working with us, including HUL, Britannia, Zomato, Cadbury, and many more,” says Khan. 

“Initially our content was mostly just memes. And we made use of Facebook’s Instant Article feature at the time, but we knew it wasn’t sustainable. So, we pivoted to original content, taking to YouTube with our own IPs. In the last four or five years, our focus has been on brand positioning. Our pages now deliver content that is more informative and newsy, in addition to memes.”

In an effort to diversify its offerings, RVCJ Digital Media is also actively investing in other avenues, with short-format videos taking priority. 

“There are a bunch of IPs we are working on. The hot trend right now is the short 30-second or 60-second content, and that is what we are working towards. We have also produced our own web series, which is going to be released on Amazon MX Player,” Khan reveals.

How brands meme

While memes are currently the go-to formula for brands for their moment marketing needs, it wasn't the case when the trend actually started. Many brands were apprehensive about associating with a domain that was largely controlled and occupied by general public. It took years of trial and error, coupled with a bunch of success stories for brands to pour in.

As per Khan, RVCJ, which not only identifies as a meme marketing agency but also as a “content powerhouse,” introduced many brands to the meme culture and its marketing utility.

“We had to introduce a lot of the big brands to the format of meme marketing. Initially, there was a lot of scepticism around this, but now it has become a staple in modern marketing. With 60+ million organic followers at our disposal, what we offer brands is premium access to their audience.”

Aziz Khan, RVCJ

As per Khan, OTT platforms were the earliest adopters of this strategy, with e-comm platforms following suit. Now, it’s raining memes in all industries. “Meme is not restricted to a single category. BFSI, food and beverages, automotive, and almost all other categories of brands have been active in the space for quite some time now,” he says.

However, with the rise of meme marketing, the competition for RVCJ has increased as well. But, the agency isn’t worried. “We’ve been in this business for 15 years, and we started when there was no one else. None of our competitors have a platform and a reach like ours, so they ultimately have to depend on third-party pages to amplify their work. This works in our favour within this competitive space.”

Some of the competitors within the meme marketing space include Youngun, WLDD, Viral Bulls, among others.

What’s ahead for RVCJ?

"This year, our investments will go towards branded content and original IPs. There will also be a lot of web series produced for OTT platforms. And of course, there will also be efforts towards expanding our influencer marketing vertical."

Aziz Khan, RVCJ

The company has scaled from a modest Rs 2 crore in initial revenue to a rather impressive Rs 40-50 crore, without any funding. The company now employs over 150 people across India, with offices in Mumbai and Delhi, complete with their own studio. 

Looking ahead to 2025, RVCJ is planning content expansion across all its verticals with an emphasis on branded content. It is also expanding into original content production, including web series for platforms like Amazon’s MX Player. 

“This year, our investments will go towards branded content and original IPs. There will also be a lot of web series produced for OTT platforms. And of course, there will also be efforts towards expanding our influencer marketing vertical,” Khan concludes.

What's next for this meme-to-millions success story? Well, as they say in the world of viral content: watch this space. Though perhaps in this case, it might be more appropriate to say: watch this space... and all the hilarious memes that come with it.