Great article, Ms. Ward. This concept reminds me of a conversation I had the other day about promotions. At Care2, we often try to align our nonprofit client campaigns with current news cycles or memes. But thinking about this more broadly, there’s a human nature element, here, that has to do with neuropathways and our subconscious ability to categorize everything. Ultimately, we end up getting excited when we see something familiar enough that we recognize, but creatively tweaked enough that it “tricks Broca” (see the Wizard of Ads http://www.wizardofads.com for full explanation of that) or the part of our brain that recognizes language patterns. That’s what I get to do with my artisan nut flavors, too - create products that align with nostalgic experiences, like the roasted nuts on the street in New York, (your brain has a place to categorize the experience/ data) and then tweak that experience in a delightful way by adding amazing spice combinations. http://www.olomomo.com. Weird Al Yankovick was a master of this in the 80’s with his Michael Jackson knock-offs, too. And Justin’s nut butter came right out and gave us an all natural, organic version of Jiffy, Reeses Peanut butter cups and Snickers. So in my mind, the ultimate memes also fit into a familiar category that our brains can readily grok, but also evoke an emotion or tap into a nostalgic connection. The Sesame St. example is a perfect one.
COMMENTS
BY Justin Perkins
ON July 12, 2012 05:45 PM
Great article, Ms. Ward. This concept reminds me of a conversation I had the other day about promotions. At Care2, we often try to align our nonprofit client campaigns with current news cycles or memes. But thinking about this more broadly, there’s a human nature element, here, that has to do with neuropathways and our subconscious ability to categorize everything. Ultimately, we end up getting excited when we see something familiar enough that we recognize, but creatively tweaked enough that it “tricks Broca” (see the Wizard of Ads http://www.wizardofads.com for full explanation of that) or the part of our brain that recognizes language patterns. That’s what I get to do with my artisan nut flavors, too - create products that align with nostalgic experiences, like the roasted nuts on the street in New York, (your brain has a place to categorize the experience/ data) and then tweak that experience in a delightful way by adding amazing spice combinations. http://www.olomomo.com. Weird Al Yankovick was a master of this in the 80’s with his Michael Jackson knock-offs, too. And Justin’s nut butter came right out and gave us an all natural, organic version of Jiffy, Reeses Peanut butter cups and Snickers. So in my mind, the ultimate memes also fit into a familiar category that our brains can readily grok, but also evoke an emotion or tap into a nostalgic connection. The Sesame St. example is a perfect one.
BY Amy Sample Ward
ON August 1, 2012 11:36 AM
And another example to add to the mix: This video using the “Call Me, Maybe” song meme was created to teach people about consent and how to talk about it, with their version “Ask Me, Maybe”. Check it out: http://goodmenproject.com/good-feed-blog/video-for-teaching-about-consent-ask-me-maybe/