Are disclosures the enemy of meme marketing posts?

afaqs!, recently, reached out to a young founder of a meme marketing agency. The agency head had shared on LinkedIn a post on how a simple tweet had created a ton of conversations for a quick-commerce brand. The founder also shared screenshots of news and entertainment websites that covered the tweet and the responses to it. 

We wished to understand whether the tweet, the source of all this supposed earned media, was organic or not. The query was met with hesitation and a defensive “I will get back to you.” Soon, the post disappeared from LinkedIn. 

This hesitation is common, and so are memes in the forms of tweets, Instagram posts, and LinkedIn pieces generating conversations around a brand, and the growing use of this marketing strategy too.

What is not common is the disclosure of said meme being agency seeded. Disclosures have become the antithesis of meme marketing agencies which have now become the purveyors of subversive marketing. A sly off the hand creative work is appreciated, not a lack of transparency.  

The practicality of this strategy is effortless. A social media account posts a meme image or video and sees it gain traction. As the spread and shares continue, someone is able to connect it to a brand and viola, people start applauding the brand saying Oh, you’re so smart. 

Innocuous? Almost. 

We spoke to experts to know what they think about the lack of disclosures and transparency about meme marketing

Shradha Agarwal, cofounder and CEO, Grapes

Meme marketing has proven to be a valuable tool for engagement and communication, thanks to its humorous and relatable nature, especially within the millennial and Gen-Z demographics. Additionally, its use Bollywood references that adds to its appeal in India, where Astrology, Bollywood, Cricket, and Discounts work best for brands.

However, there are several reasons why brands may not disclose their involvement in meme marketing. Firstly, the tonality of memes often differs from a brand's guidelines, and humor may include below-the-belt jokes. Secondly, brands may receive backlash if they directly compare themselves to a competitor but they can easily leverage it through a meme. Lastly, guidelines prohibit the use of celebrity images without permission, but there is no specific guidelines of using that in memes.

There is no specific guidelines from the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) with regard to meme marketing. We use a three-step strategy for meme marketing: build, borrow, and badge. This includes creating memes from scratch, borrowing memes from other pages, and incorporating viral memes into a brand's social media strategy.

Overall, agencies can only seed memes to a limited audience, and it is up to the audience to decide whether a meme will become popular or not.

Mitesh Kothari, co-founder and chief creative officer, White Rivers Media

The unbranded meme has a relatability factor attached to it. It focuses on a situation and is related to a wider audience. The moment, it is clubbed with the brand name the audience will get alienated. 

The other factor is virality, unbranded meme has a possibility of shareability among friends and peers. The moment that meme is branded, that becomes an endorsement.

Also, brands enjoy the fact that a subtle association is better than an on-the-face association.

Interestingly, meme strategy is also a part of the content testing framework. Many brands use unbranded memes to test content ideas. And, they gather feedback through comments.

Ideally, ASCI guidelines should not apply to Meme marketing as Influencer Marketing is used as an endorsement, whereas memes are all about humour, and the product is just part of that situation.

A lot of times, meme marketing is not done by brands outright. When brands do it, it's just a part of the campaign. 99% of the memes on the internet are not initiated by brands. 

Meme Marketing is a niche right now and it's all about community creation. In Influencer Marketing, Influencers are making a claim which is not the case in meme marketing. 

Meme marketing is not a mainstay for most of the brands in the country right now. The brands will just experiment with meme marketing and will be a part of the mix. But it will not become larger in the mix.

Divyansh Gala, group head- outreach, Socheers 

Meme marketing is gaining popularity due to its relatable nature, which encourages conversations and replies. The brands are not looking to come at front as popular meme formats from movies or web series carry the risk of copyright issues. Production houses own iconic Bollywood movies. Big players like ITC and HUL are hesitant to foray into meme marketing due to copyright issues.

Meme pages are often run by students who have some leeway in terms of brand derogation. However, if there is a page partnership or hashtag collab, the audience's engagement reduces as customers tend to scroll through paid advertisements.

Memes can also be derogatory and divisive, in which brands don't want to associate themselves with. Thus, it's essential to follow the ASCI guidelines to maintain brand image and ensure that memes don't affect purchasing decisions.

Meme marketing can be executed by using trending formats like Swipe to see, which integrates the brand subtly. Additionally, Meme Influencers like Gajodhar Bhaiya and Sagarcasm can be leveraged, and Instagram features like the poll option can be used in a meme-format.

Saurabh Parmar, consulting chief marketing

Disclosure of brands on memes should become a mandate while doing any meme marketing and those not doing should be penalized. On top of that, even as marketers we are fooling ourselves and confusing buzz with awareness or credibility. In the long term, it will impact the brand and this should not be allowed.

With additional inputs: Shreyas Kulkarni