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Valerie De La Rosa, Director Digital Marketing, CNÉ, ContentSEO 2017
Valerie de la Rosa discusses how memes serve as cultural connectors and shape trends, emphasizing their role in expressing hidden personality traits and brand fan fiction. She outlines the traits of memes—fidelity, fecundity, and longevity—and provides strategies for creating content that aligns with the zeitgeist instead of solely chasing virality. The presentation concludes with a reminder that understanding cultural movements is crucial for effective content creation.
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Valerie De La Rosa, Director Digital Marketing, CNÉ, ContentSEO 2017
- 2. MOVING AT THESPEED OF MEME: HOW TRENDS SHAPE CULTURE Valerie De La Rosa @vdlr Director, Marketing Condé Nast Entertainment
- 3. Hello, my nameis Valerie De La Rosa DIRECTOR, MARKETING CONDÉ NAST ENTERTAINMENT @vdlr
- 4. TFW you’re wonderingwhy @vdlr is qualified to talk about culture, memes, and trends
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- 6. “We live fora cultural experience, to feel we are not alone, to learn something about ourselves, to revel in the human journey…” - Baz Luhrmann, First Monday in May @vdlr
- 7. @vdlr WHAT IS AMEME: A JOURNEY
- 8. @vdlr WHAT IS AMEME: A JOURNEY MEME a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols, or practices that can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena with a mimicked theme
- 9. @vdlr WHAT IS AMEME: A JOURNEY MEME a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols, or practices that can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena with a mimicked theme
- 10. @vdlr WHAT IS AMEME: A JOURNEY A MEME IS THE ULTIMATE CONNECTOR OF PEOPLE
- 11. @vdlr Started from thebottom Now we here Meme 60s Spiderman REBECCA BLACK PLANKING NYAN CAT BRONIES
- 12. THREE TRAITS OFA MEME FIDELITY FECUNDITY LONGEVITY @vdlr
- 13. @vdlr HOW TRENDS ARE SHAPINGCULTURE RIGHT NOW
- 14. TREND #1: HIDDEN PERSONALITYTRAITS ARE MAINSTREAM THE EVOLUTION OF THE KERMIT MEME @vdlr PETTINESS EGOTISM VULNERABILITY
- 15. TREND #1: HIDDEN PERSONALITYTRAITS ARE MAINSTREAM DARK KERMIT @vdlr EGOTISM Me: It’s gonna take 30 minutes to get there. Me to me: tell ‘em you’ll be there in 5.
- 16. @vdlr MEMES ARE THE DOPPELGÄNGERS OFOUR FEELINGS
- 17. TREND #2: BRAND FANFICTION EMERGING BECAUSE IT GRANTS THE CONSUMER’S DESIRE FOR WTF @vdlr
- 18. @vdlr ACHIEVING SCALE ABOVE THENOISE: WHY BREAKING OUT REQUIRES PRECISION
- 19. @vdlr CHASING TRENDS IS NOWA MASS ACTIVITY
- 20. @vdlr MEMES WERE BORNOUT OF SERENDIPITOUS ACCIDENTS ALIGNING THE ZEITGEIST.
- 21. IN A POST-MEMEWORLD, YOU ARCHITECT YOUR CONTENT NOT FOR VIRALITY, BUT FOR ZEITGEIST PENETRATION BREAK THE FEED @vdlr
- 22. BREAK THE FEED @vdlr VIRALSUCCESS MEMETIC SUCCESS • PRESTIGE • POSITIONING • STRONG EMOTIONS • MEMETIC POTENTIAL • PUZZLE SOLVING SIMPLICITY HUMOR PARTICIPATION TOOLS
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- 26. @vdlr HOW TO ENGINEER YOURCONTENT FOR MEMETIC EVOLUTION
- 27. PLANT INCLUSIVE MEMETICDIMENSIONS OF CULTURAL UNITS @vdlr CONTENT FORM STANCE
- 28. MEMETIC DIMENSIONS OF CULTURALUNITS @vdlr #1 CONTENT
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- 30. MEMETIC DIMENSIONS OF CULTURALUNITS @vdlr #2 FORM
- 31. MEMETIC DIMENSION: FORM -VISUAL @vdlr DIM LIGHTS HEADS TILTED DOWNWARDS IN UNISION UNIFORM CLOTHING: BLACK TURTLENECK AND BLACK T-SHIRT
- 32. MEMETIC DIMENSIONS OF CULTURALUNITS @vdlr #3 STANCE
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- 36. @vdlr MEME REMIXES DARK KERMIT+ HURT BAE
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- 38. TO BREAK THE FEED, YOUNEED TO GIVE AWAY A PIECE OF THE NARRATIVE TO THE AUDIENCE @vdlr
- 39. DON’T GO CHASIN’MEMES (in your content) @vdlr
- 40. “You have tolook at what’s moving the culture forward. Not just what’s doing well,” – Fred Seibert. @vdlr
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- 42. @vdlr MEME APPENDIX 2017 MEMECALENDAR MEME REMIXES POST-MEME WORLD
- 43. THE MEME YEARIN REVIEW
- 44. MEME REMIXES BLINKING GUY+ ARTHUR FIST
- 45. MEME REMIXES ROLL SAFE+ HURT BAE
- 46. MEME REMIXES SALT BAE+ HURT BAE
- 47. MEME REMIXES HAPPY ARTHUR+ BBC KID
- 48. MEME REMIXES ROLL SAFE+ HURT BAE
- 49. MEME REMIXES HOMER SIMPSONBACKS INTO THINGS +SEAN SPICER PRESSERS
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Editor's Notes
- #3 *this slide will be up while the audience is queuing from the previous session* MC will intro VDLR to the stage: “Next we have Valerie De La Rosa, Director of Marketing, at Condé Nast Entertainment. Condé Nast Entertainment is an award-winning next generation studio developing and producing projects across film, television, social and premium digital video, and virtual reality. Condé Nast Entertainment produces more than 5,000 pieces of original digital content per year, spanning all genres – documentaries, animation, comedy, scripted drama, celebrity and how-to.
- #4 VDLR: Good afternoon, ContentSEO New York! This morning you’ve learned about _______, _________, and _________ [Insert one sentence recap encapsulating the major themes from the three other speakers]. Today, my session will focus on how trends shape culture. We’ll dissect the how and what of a meme, identify trends you need to know, and then we’ll end with how to go beyond baking virality into your content with actionable steps to break through the feed and unlock the zeitgeist for your brand.
- #5 VDLR: Before we dive into the shallow end of the meme pool, I meme’d my qualifications here because maybe it’s noon, and I am what is standing between you and lunch. It’s simple, really: pop culture is my unicorn, and I eat memes for breakfast. My practice is centered around how and why people share content online: from the creative agency side to in-house brand experience, my expertise spans verticals such as retail, hospitality, media/entertainment, telecommunications, financial services, and technology.
- #6 VDLR: Cave drawings were the original memes. Both are vehicles for transmitting cultural messages and transferring narratives into a dialogue shared among a civilization. Consumption of a meme or a cave drawing between two people is a shared cultural experience. An invitation to a potential shared understanding that brings humanity together through the exchange of visual symbols as utilitarian tools for communications in the purest sense. Now I want you to close your eyes. And think about the last meme you shared. Perhaps it was politically charged, you gained a couple of likes, maybe one or two Haha Facebook reactions. I want you to think about how you felt when you received that push notification of a comment on your Facebook post or that red number lighting up on your notifications tab. Were you comforted? Were your feelings confirmed? Open your eyes. Real quickly, who wants to share the last meme they shared on social media. *Looks in audience and calls on one person*
- #7 VDLR: This is one of my favorite quotes because it truly encapsulates the frame of mind I enter when developing, creating, marketing, and packaging content for distribution. First Monday in May is documentary produced by Condé Nast Entertainment for Vogue around the Met Gala. While Baz was not talking about memes here, the principles apply to how and why we share content online. The key to unlocking the zeitgeist lies in understanding how these nuances knit together.
- #9 VDLR: The title of today’s session is Moving at the Speed of Meme: How Trends Shape Culture. Before I cover trends you need know, let’s align on what exactly encompasses a meme.
- #10 VDLR: How do you as a brand put the “me” into your content for your customer? Think of your customer, your audience, your reader as having a backpack when they approach your content at the fork in the internet between a Facebook post and Twitter scroll. Are you leaving behind a breadcrumb for them to carry? A piece of cultural currency for them to “pack” into their cultural backpack?
- #11 VDLR: In Memes We Trust. When you share a meme, you share a bit about yourself (sharing an obscure meme first: positions a person as in-the-know, on top of it). A social trigger (like, share, reaction, comment) is cultural validation (I see you. I get it. I understand.).
- #12 VDLR: In the words of Drake, we started from the bottom, now we here. The meme economy ascended into the mainstream in 2011. A combination of high-profile memes such a planking (one of the earliest memes with high-touch user-generated content performances)- you physically embodied the meme — in sharing yourself role-playing the memetic character — you increased your cultural currency. Other memes such as Bronies (bros who were fans of My Little Pony), Nyan Cat (GIF meme), and Rebecca Black (a protomeme) were part of the meme economy ascension. The graph you’re looking at here is search trend data for the actual word “meme.” In 2012, meme media coverage was primarily handled by BuzzFeed. The 2012 Presidential Election was a key adopter event for mainstreaming memes into today’s media coverage in 2017 with meme roundups of cultural tentpoles a regular part of editorial calendars across newsrooms.
- #13 VDLR: You know the saying, you’ll know a meme in the face when you see one, right? But that’s not necessarily the case. In the same way, someone does not just ascend to the Best Dressed List by wearing a couture gown, an image with Impact font text does not guarantee meme generation. Three signs to look for: FIDELITY - the most effective meme has high fidelity. Think long-lasting memory. FECUNDITY - builds on the high-fidelity because a meme need many and many copies made. Memetic evolution happens when a high-fidelity meme achieves scale because it is easily replicated either by memory and shared or by memory and replicated into a new format. LONGEVITY -
- #15 VDLR: Now that we’ve cleared up what a meme is, we can dive into the deep end of the meme pool around three trends shaping culture. Trend number one: Hidden personality traits are mainstream now. What was typically seen as a weakness is celebrated in tribal form through the dissemination of identity-driven content. We’re talking: introversion, pettiness, egotism, and vulnerability. What you see here is the evolution of this trend in the memetic character of Kermit the Frog. But this is not the Frog you’re used to. Embedded in the nostalgia of a childhood character (remember this because I’ll address it in an additional meme) Kermit is a vehicle for unifying the suffering in memetic form. The negative connotation behind each one (introversion, pettiness, egotism, and vulnerability) is subsumed and exchanged for cultural currency to be sacrificed for the innate tribal behavior of wanting to belong. Through meme diffusion, each one is acceptable as a “way of being.” The memes help us escape the world around us. Memes help break the inertia of the unconscious mind.
- #16 VDLR: let’s break down the Dark Kermit meme. Can anyone tell me why they think this meme popped? *calls on a member of the audience* *validates/confirms comment or gently persuades transition to next talking point* Self-deprecation is how we martyr our online identities. The Dark Kermit meme taps into a super meta aspect: the shadow (literally) cast by the conscious mind of an individual that contains the hidden, repressed, and nefarious aspects of our most inner personalities.
- #17 VDLR: Grab an umbrella because it going to rain keys for the rest of this presentation. [note: keys are a pop cultural slang for pieces of advice made popular by DJ Khaled. This slide is optimized to be snapped/instagrammed/tweeted.]
- #18 VDLR: Brand fan fiction is having a moment in the zeitgeist. Wieden+Kennedy recently released an e-book romance novel written by Colonel Sanders *makes air quotes* for KFC as a Mother’s Day tie-in because — wait for it — Mother’s Day is the busiest day for KFC (look at me unloading some tweetable cultural currency). The cycle of sharing happens in three movements: Step 1: WTF/So This is Thing reaction Step 2: consumption of the romance novel content (think about it, if you download it, you’re certainly going to tell someone about it on a social platform Step 3: and this is how the KFC romance novel shapes culture: Amazon reviews of weird products are touchstones in the zeitgeist. They are screenshot, shared, and released into the pixelated waters of the meme economy (pink bic pens, banana holder, etc.). The careful review with which each reviewer knits their satirical response creates a piece of cultural currency that allows other participants to consume (reading reviews, sharing review, and eventually matriculating to purchase of the content). The zeitgeist badge of honor? When *your* Amazon review of Tender Wings of Desire has not only a verified purchase designation next to your name, but also a high number of users who “found this review helpful.”
- #20 VDLR: So I know you’re thinking. Hold up. You just talked about trends, and now this? You only win the games you choose to play. Chasing trends is a mass activity - everyone is looking at the same cultural tentpoles, how do you make noise when everyone is primed to develop a memetic moment at any given time? Going after what everyone else is chasing is a small game.
- #21 VDLR: Right place. Right time. The hyper awareness around memes, potentially memetic moments intensely magnified, we are thirstier than ever as consumers to be the first to discover a memetic moment in pop culture that hits the zeitgeist. And we eagerly seek them out to be active participants in the cultural conversations. What does this all mean: we are living in a post-meme world.
- #22 VDLR: The thing is, you’re not in the last meme car on the viral highway. You need to figure out how to be the driverless car here. Play the bigger game.
- #23 VDLR: The meme that emerges from your content is an easter egg of sorts. But so much more. It is the white space in your content for your audience to appear within it, to participate, and eventually share. You can’t force it. But you can leave what I call “meme-riggers” by engineering your content for memetic evolution. Think of these as breadcrumbs. Create a pocket for your audience to insert themselves — this is the puzzle solving portion — by leaving replicable moments that associate a long-term memory (memery, I kid. I kid.) with your content.
- #24 VDLR: Jaden Smith Reads Mind-blowing Facts for Vanity Fair broke through the noise around one big idea and filled a curiosity gap. Primed to be meme-d, the consistent look of confusion on Jaden’s face created a pocket for the viewer to join in the cultural conversation beyond consumption of the video — memetic engineering gives the audience a tool box to engage beyond the view and share.
- #25 VDLR: Paris Hilton is the OG [note: “OG” internet slang for original] protomeme [note: a “protomeme" is something or someone that would have been a fully-fledged at the time of its insertion into the zeitgeist] of the early Aughts [note: the term “aughts” refers to the shorthand for the 2000s]. A mix of nostalgia coupled with deadpan satire rewards the audience for their pop cultural acumen.
- #26 VDLR: Two weeks ago, the internet embraced Brad Pitt’s photoshoot for GQ as he achieved memedom in the purest sense: by his truest self both in print, digital, and video. This dominated the cultural conversation because the normally reserved Pitt unleashed an expected element in poses and phrases that invited the viewer to participate. The ultimate meme remix to break the feed: coining Pitt’s video as Lemonade II. Now, I know what you’re thinking. Okay, you’ve got it easy — celebrities are going to generate views. Major key: just because you have a celebrity in your content does not mean it will scale. It requires careful precision to engineer a cultural shattering piece of content regardless of who stars in the video.
- #27 VDLR: A thirsty brand does not attract a loyal advocate. Sure, you can create a memetic character from your content by adding a black box above it with witty copy in all-caps Impact font. Ironically, you content will not have an impact and will fail to penetrate the zeitgeist. While you might gain a short-term win with shares, the user-replicated dynamic fails to gain traction with your content.
- #28 VDLR: There are subtle cues to generate the necessary high-fidelity traits that birth memes from content. The key is for the memetic dimension of a cultural unit to be inclusive. Breadcrumbs.
- #30 VDLR: The true story of two exes confronting infidelity dominated the cultural conversation just 24 hours after Valentine’s Day. Here the content is a simple premise around intimate emotions nearly all of us have experienced: breaking up with someone, cheating on someone, being cheated on, and being broken up with — the white space for participation in the memetic evolution of the Broken series
- #32 VDLR: We talked about high fidelity as one of the mandatory traits for a meme. The simple and subtle visual cues in the video primed the content for breaking the feed. Easy for the audience to remember the set design, the gestures, the words (burned-in captions), etc. The action-packed three seconds at the beginning of the social clip that went viral on Twitter coupled with movie-poster Twitter copy created an easily acceptable invitation to the audience to be introduced to the ritual of the Broken video series: two people confronting infidelity in a relationship. (Hello, high fidelity, again!) The consumption of the content is an initiation of the audience into the tribe - those who understand the #HurtBae meme. Matriculation at the highest level is the performance of the content into other pockets of the cultural zeitgeist: sports, politics, etc. With over 57M video views across platforms, the original posts by The Scene did not initiate the hashtag: it was a gift from the audience. The ultimate cultural currency for a content creator.
- #34 VDLR: The careful construction of a villain engineered the first video of the Broken Series (birthing the meme heard round the world: #HurtBae) for memetic evolution. Unscripted, this video shocked audiences — who could not believe the blatant flippancy of Leonard. The villain gave the audience someone to root for — Kourtney. PARTICIPATION STRUCTURE: The community discovering this video on Twitter through sharing, retweets, etc. needed a place to “meet” and so emerged the organic hashtag #HurtBae. Used over 1.2M times, the villain stance gave the audience white space to participate in the video — by breaking it down in GIFs, elevating the spoken word as text memes (What did you do? I did everything. I don’t know. I wasn’t counting.) who broke out memetically into different verticals: racial identity, political (Trump/Russia), etc. KEYING: The stance of the Hurt Bae video set up the tone for the return volley from the audience in the form of memetic expression (self-deprecating memes, empathy, etc.)
- #36 VDLR: Outside of achieving high velocity views in a short period time, here are two signs you’ve broken the feed. REPLICATION: Imitation is an act of reciprocity. In the same way one feels obligated to give a gift back after receiving one, the same psychology applies to content consumption by your audience. VARIANCE: In the Hurt Bae example, the memes ranged from the spoken word as text memes all the way to actual re-enactments co-opted into identity-driven content.
- #37 VDLR: remember the meme-fication of your content invites other to participate in three distinct ways: consumption, creation, and adoption into the tribe to be “in” on the inside joke in the ultimate way by physically manifesting a new take on the meme by introducing another another meme. Hello, meme remix: the VIP club in the meme economy. Meme remixes are content contribution on a whole other level of metaness. Meme-ing the meme with another cultural touchstone elevates the maker’s status in the zeitgeist.
- #39 VDLR: Think of yourself as a content chef. Your audience’s media diet is based on the nutrition of the internet. Guard it. Respect it. Leave breadcrumbs. The ultimate gift to the audience is to give the space to discover an identity-driven trope in your content.
- #40 VDLR: Recognize that you can’t scale everything. Stay hydrated and release your brand of committing the crime of thirst on the internet. [Note: “thirst” and “thirsty” are internet tropes for desperation - being to eager to be a part of the cultural conversation devalues your audience.] If you engineer your content for memetic evolution, your audience will create the memes.
- #41 VDLR: As content creators, you have a great power in shaping the cultural narrative around acceptance, dignity, humanity, and empathy through the content you serve to your audience. It is a powerful thing. And one of the greatest responsibilities and contributions to the zeitgeist.
- #43 VDLR: [NOTE: this section is to refer to examples during Q&A or deep-dive further into meme remixes, the meme calendar meta meme, and post-meme world examples]