Meme marketing: How marketers can drive better engagement using viral memes?

Abstract

Scholars and industry stakeholders have exhibited an interest in identifying the underlying dimensions of viral memes. However, the recipe for creating a viral meme remains obscure. This study makes a phenomenological contribution by examining viral memes, exploring the antecedents (i.e., content‐related factors, customer‐related factors, and media‐related factors), consequences, and moderating factors using a mixed‐method approach. The study presents a holistic framework for creating viral memes based on the viewpoints of customers and industry stakeholders. Four quantitative studies (i.e., a lab experiment, an online quasi‐experiment, an event study, and a brand recall study) validate the theoretical model identified in the qualitative study. The research points to the potential of viral memes in marketing communications to enhance brand recall and brand engagement. The study found that viral memes are topical and highly relatable and are thus well received by the target groups, which increases customer engagement and brand recall. The marketers can adopt the findings of this study to design content for memes that consumers find relevant, iconic, humorous, and spreadable. Furthermore, marketers can use customer‐related factors suggested in the theoretical framework for enhancing escapism, social gratification, and content gratification for their target customers which in turn shall organically increase their reach within their target segments and enhance brand performance in terms of brand recall and brand engagement.

Full text

Received: 6 January 2022
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Accepted: 28 May 2022
DOI: 10.1002/mar.21702
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Meme marketing: How can marketers drive better
engagement using viral memes?
Suresh Malodia
1
|Amandeep Dhir
2,3,4
|Anil Bilgihan
5
|Pranao Sinha
1
|
Tanishka Tikoo
1
1
Strategic Marketing Area, MICA, Ahmedabad,
India
2
Department of Management, School of
Business & Law, University of Agder,
Kristiansand, Norway
3
Norwegian School of Hotel Management,
University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway
4
Optentia Research Focus Area, North‐West
University, Vanderbijlpark, South Africa
5
Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton,
Florida, USA
Correspondence
Amandeep Dhir, Department of Management,
School of Business & Law, University of Agder,
Norway.
Email: amandeep.dhir@uia.no
Abstract
Scholars and industry stakeholders have exhibited an interest in identifying the
underlying dimensions of viral memes. However, the recipe for creating a viral meme
remains obscure. This study makes a phenomenological contribution by examining
viral memes, exploring the antecedents (i.e., content‐related factors, customer‐
related factors, and media‐related factors), consequences, and moderating factors
using a mixed‐method approach. The study presents a holistic framework for
creating viral memes based on the perceptions of customers and industry
stakeholders. Four quantitative studies (i.e., a lab experiment, an online quasi‐
experiment, an event study, and a brand recall study) validate the theoretical model
identified in the qualitative study. The research underlines the potential of viral
memes in marketing communications as they enhance brand recall and brand
engagement. The study found that viral memes are topical and highly relatable and
are thus well received by the target groups, which increases customer engagement
and brand recall. Marketers can adopt the findings of this study to design content for
memes that consumers find relevant, iconic, humorous, and spreadable. Further-
more, marketers can use customer‐related factors suggested in the theoretical
framework for enhancing escapism, social gratification, and content gratification for
their target customers which in turn shall organically increase their reach within their
target segments and enhance brand performance in terms of brand recall and brand
engagement.
KEYWORDS
engagement, meme marketing, memes, memetic, virality
1|INTRODUCTION
The drastic decline in click‐through rates (CTRs) and conversion rates
in digital advertising indicates that consumers in the digital era tend
to avoid advertising and promotional content (Chaffey, 2021).
Advertisers thus struggle to ensure that their advertisements reach
consumers (Eguren et al., 2021). Prior research has suggested that
consumers are more likely to avoid advertisements by skipping them
or scrolling past them (McDonald, 2018). While millennials generally
eschew commercial and sponsored content, 84% of millennials are
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This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium,
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© 2022 The Authors. Psychology & Marketing published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.

influenced by user‐generated content, such as memes on company
websites (Sagin, 2020). Internet memes refer to rapidly spreading and
highly engaging content that is shared in various formats (including
animation, GIF, tag, image, text, or video) and uses humor, sarcasm,
and quiddity to promote an idea or message (Brubaker et al., 2018;
Shifman, 2013).
Recently, memes have featured among the most successful
modes of marketing communication and have even been recognized
among the simplest ways to engage with target audiences. While
memes help marketers engage with consumers, adopting meme‐
based advertising entails multiple advantages (Bury, 2016; Williams,
2000). First, meme‐based advertising is highly cost‐effective relative
to conventional advertising and digital advertising. Second, meme‐
based advertising leverages existing popular memes, which allows the
target audience to relate easily to the advertisement context. Third,
given the popularity of memes, marketers can organically connect
with their audiences. Finally, memes are easy to create by modifying
existing meme templates.
According to a recent social media behavior survey conducted by
YPulse,
1
75% of users aged 13–36 regularly share memes, and 30%
of these users share memes daily. Furthermore, Instagram users
shared 1 million memes a day in 2020.
2
It is thus evident that internet
memes dominate social media and permeate the advertising and
marketing world. For example, Paquette (2019) reported that using
memes in advertising generates a 30% engagement rate on social
media compared to a 1% CTR in the case of Google AdWords.
Marketers are using memes to increase customer awareness of
their products and services as well as customer engagement. For
example, Heinz launched a meme marketing campaign that sought to
extend the debate regarding the tomato's status as a fruit or a
vegetable. The company created hashtags for the campaign and
asked people to take sides. While the campaign targeted only one
million impressions (total reach), in the end, it generated more than
four million impressions with over 80,000 engagements (likes,
comments, and shares) on Instagram and Facebook (Cole, 2018).
Even for a business‐to‐business (B2B) firm, such as Joseph Cyril
Bamford (JCB) Excavators Ltd., a meme with #JCBKiKhudai (digging
with JCB) generated publicity worth one million dollars.
3
Luxury
brands, such as Gucci, have likewise embraced meme marketing, with
the #TFWGucci [That feel when Gucci] hashtag becoming Gucci's
highest engaging campaign
4
and generating over 21,000 comments
and 2 million likes. A closer examination of the market suggests that a
diverse list of brands are now utilizing memes as a tool for engaging
their customers. This list includes luxury brands (e.g., Gucci and
Prada), food delivery apps (e.g., Swiggy and Zomato), over‐the‐top
(OTT) platforms (e.g., Netflix and Amazon Prime), and dating apps
(e.g., Tinder) and others. Integrating memes into advertising thus
offers advertisers and marketing professionals a new window for
effectively engaging with the customers and increasing the reach of
their marketing campaigns. Indeed, meme advertising may help these
stakeholders to overcome consumers' advertisement avoidance
practices and effectively communicate with their target audiences
(Bury, 2016; Taecharungroj & Nueangjamnong, 2015).
A meme disseminates among people via the internet, including
social media platforms, instant messaging apps, and other internet‐
based media platforms (Bauckhage, 2011). Marketers can convert an
advertisement into a meme, which, if becomes viral, can produce an
immediate response and organically drive customer engagement
(Bury, 2016; Williams, 2000). With the active participation of
netizens in sharing content online, brands must adapt to this new
form of communication and advertising. Undoubtedly, both the
importance and popularity of memes are increasing in the advertising
and marketing strategies of various firms and brands. Despite this
growing demand and acceptance, however, our understanding of the
phenomenon of meme‐based advertising remains limited.
We identify four significant gaps in the existing literature on
memes and related advertising. First, most of the literature is
anecdotal or based on qualitative case studies (Brubaker et al.,
2018; Chuah et al., 2020; Taecharungroj & Nueangjamnong, 2015).
Scholars have yet to determine the type of content that has the
potential to become viral. Marketers must understand this
information—i.e. content‐related factors (such as language, humor,
relevance, etc.)—to create memes with better reach and engagement.
However, we are unable to identify relevant literature suggesting
content‐related factors to inform viral meme creation. Second, we do
not yet understand why people tend to appreciate memes as
advertising mechanisms or why people tend to follow and share
memes on the internet, including on social media platforms. In other
words, the types of gratification individuals seek when consuming
memes are not clear. We refer to these gratification needs as
customer‐related factors. Third, the prior literature has not yet
clarified the role of media‐related factors (i.e., seeding and distribu-
tion strategies) that contribute to meme virality. Finally, no prior
studies have examined the outcomes of viral memes. A better
understanding of viral memes will enable firms, brands, and
institutions to create content capable of generating a lasting impact,
understand people's motivation to spread memes and better utilize
media to communicate ideas via meme transmission.
The current study aims to address the above gaps in the prior
literature on meme‐based advertising by answering two key research
questions (RQs): RQ1. What are the antecedents and outcomes of
viral memes? RQ2. What are the boundary conditions of the
antecedents and outcomes of viral memes? The current study
proposes an overarching conceptual framework for creating viral
memes, which will improve the existing understanding and execution
of meme‐based advertising campaigns. Adopting tenets from schema
theory and social contagion theory, this study attempts to better
1
Topline: Social media behavior: Vital insights into Gen Z and Millennials' behavior, plans,
and views—with major takeaways for brands (2019). URL: https://www.ypulse.com/report/
2019/02/20/topline-social-media-behavior2/accessed on July 21, 2021.
2
Instagram year in review: How memes were the mood of 2020. (December 2020). URL:
https://about.instagram.com/blog/announcements/instagram-year-in-review-how-memes-
were-the-mood-of-2020/accessed on August 16, 2021.
3
#JCBKiKhudai—How a JCB meme created a million‐dollar PR for the company (2019). URL:
https://youngunindia.medium.com/jcbkikhudai-how-a-jcb-meme-created-a-million-dollar-
pr-for-the-company-da6e66782155 accessed on August 16, 2021.
4
https://anexinet.com/blog/can-brands-cool-measuring-success-guccis-ad-campaign/
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understand the content‐related, customer‐related, and media‐related
factors that are positively associated with meme virality. The study
adopts a mixed‐method approach wherein we first conduct a
qualitative study and draw insights from 35 in‐depth interviews with
various stakeholders involved in the virality of memes. These
stakeholders include brand managers, influencers, media agencies,
memers, and users. We employed theoretical sampling to select the
participants and developed the framework using concurrent data
collection and constant comparative analysis (Malodia et al., 2021).
To measure the virality of memes, we first propose a theoretical
conceptualization of the virality of memes using three underlying
dimensions (i.e., contraction, transmission, and exposure). Second, we
identify three antecedents of meme virality: content‐related factors
(i.e., relevance, iconicity, humor, and shareability), customer‐related
factors (i.e., process, social and content gratifications), and media‐
related factors (i.e., seeding and distribution). Third, we report brand
recall and brand engagement as two significant outcomes of viral
memes. Finally, we find that brand guidelines and rewards moderate
the propositions suggested in the conceptual framework. Therefore,
we identify these guidelines and rewards as moderating factors (or
boundary conditions). Our study represents an initial attempt to
provide a holistic framework for creating viral memes based on the
viewpoints of customers and industry stakeholders. Hence, the study
makes a novel contribution to the meme advertising literature. The
study's findings offer benefits for brands adopting meme marketing
and media agencies engaged in creating meme marketing templates
and meme marketing campaigns. Next, we conduct four quantitative
studies including a lab experiment, an online quasi‐experiment, an
event study, and a brand recall study to validate the theoretical model
identified through the qualitative study.
The study is structured as follows. We begin by reviewing and
synthesizing the existing literature on meme advertising and meme
marketing. Second, we present our methodology by describing the
respondents and the interview process as well as the processes of
coding the data and testing the reliability and validity. Third, we
develop our conceptual framework and advance our theoretical
propositions. Finally, we discuss the implications of our research and
propose an agenda for future research.
2|MEMES IN ADVERTISING
Based on our review, we identify four stages in the progression of the
prior literature's conceptualization of memes (see Figure 1). Though
the literature has evolved in stages, we do not argue that the four
stages have proceeded chronologically. We simply present the
stages. In the first stage, the meme functioned as a unit of imitation.
Dawkins (1976) first conceptualized the term “meme”in the popular
book The Selfish Gene, arguing that memes function like genes by
promoting the transmission and replication of social ideas within a
population (Bauckhage, 2011). At this stage, a meme referred to the
spread of ideas and a social phenomenon based on evolutionary
principles (e.g., genes).
In the second stage, memes evolved as a unit of cultural
transmission. Evolutionary biologists and, later, cultural scholars utilized
theconceptofthememetoexplaintheprocessofculturaltransmission
(Davis et al., 2015). The study of cultural information transmission using
principles of genetic evolution is also termed “memetics”(Benaim,
2018). At this stage, the meme was used to explain cultural information
transfer utilizing evolutionary models, such genetics.
In the third stage, the meme became a unit of internet culture. An
internet meme is an idea or concept that replicates and transmits
rapidly across internet users (Zulli & Zulli, 2020). Used to communi-
cate on social media and web forums, internet memes have become
the dominant element of the participatory internet culture (Vasquez
& Aslan, 2021).
Finally, in the fourth stage, the meme evolved as a component of
linguistic discourse. Arguing that the witty exploitation of words can
be employed to create memes (Zenner & Geeraerts, 2018), semiotic
scholars have described memes as a form of linguistic discourse. A
meme includes a “word, phrase, expression, iconic imagery or
recognizable reference“(Cannizzaro, 2016). Furthermore, Dynel
(2016) found that popular memes leverage vernacular catchphrases
full of intentional spelling errors, abbreviations or acronyms, and
nonstandard language. Because memes aim to connect with like‐
minded individuals, marketers adopt them to communicate with
customers (Sharma, 2018). In this stage, “memes”have become a
mode of internet/online communication and a benchmark of virality.
FIGURE 1 Evolution of the meme as a concept.
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One reason behind the limited research on memes may be a lack
of understanding of meme typologies, formats, and characteristics.
Recognizing this possibility, we discuss these three aspects of memes
to clarify their conceptualization (see Figure 2). The prior literature
has described memes as “cultural unit”(Casey, 2018); later, however,
Benaim (2018) argued that these cultural units represent multiple
“social ideas”(Benaim, 2018). Therefore, the prior literature defines
the meme as a cultural unit that can further be divided into different
social ideas. Each social idea is expressed through various typologies,
distinct characteristics, and formats (see Figure 2).
2.1 |Characteristics
A meme is defined as “something that is self‐replicating and gets
communicated from person to person”(Shifman, 2013;Taecharungroj&
Nueangjamnong, 2015). Dawkins (1976) identified fidelity (replication
through copying), fecundity (rapid transmission), and longevity as three
definitive characteristics of memes (Knobel & Lankshear, 2007;p.200).
Scholars have also proposed other salient characteristics of memes. Pech
(2003a) proposed the concept of meme fitness, while Cannizzaro (2016)
identified ease of copying and translation as significant characteristics of
viral memes. Similarly, scholars have noted distinctness, quiddity
(Brubaker et al., 2018), and humor as essential characteristics of memes
(Sharma, 2018; Taecharungroj & Nueangjamnong, 2015). Based on the
extended literature, we suggest seven main meme characteristics: fidelity,
fecundity, longevity, meme fitness, ease of copying and translation,
distinctness, and humor.
2.2 |Typology
Memes can be classified into genres and typologies. Knobel and
Lankshear (2007) proposed four typologies of memes based on their
purpose: (a) social commentary, (b) absurdist humor, (c) otaku (a
Japanese term used for youth obsessed with computers) or manga
fandom (a fan community) and (d) hoax. Meanwhile, Segev et al.
(2015) used the degree of cohesiveness to classify memes into five
families (highly cohesive to noncohesive) using two parameters:
quiddity types and generic attributes (Brubaker et al., 2018). Based
on the prior literature, we propose five typologies of memes (see
Figure 2). We exclude “hoax”as a separate typology because the
literal meaning of hoax is a “joke,”“trick,”“prank,”and so forth, and
therefore, hoax overlaps with each of the other five typologies.
2.3 |Format
The evolution of memes as a format refers to the ways in which
memes are published and consumed by various stakeholders.
FIGURE 2 Characteristics, typology, and
format of memes.
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Understanding the evolution of the meme format is important
because it also helps us to understand the ways in which memes can
be reimagined and reformatted in the context of the constantly
evolving internet culture.
We propose a four‐stage model to explain the evolution of
memes as a format (see Figure 3).
Stage I. Initially, internet memes were a relatively vague form of
humor expressed through singular pictures and concepts. Memes
were published on websites, such as eBaum.com and 4chan.com.
Stage II. The next popular format used to create memes was
known as top‐text and bottom‐text memes. In this format, either an
image or a colored background was used to create humorous memes.
Tumblr was the most popular medium employed to transmit memes
in this stage.
Stage III. In the third stage, rage comics—multipanel comical
illustrations—grew as a popular meme format. Rage comics used
humor, frustration, irony, and so forth, as a source of memes. These
memes were created with widely available tools, such as Microsoft
Paint.
Stage IV. In the late 2000s, memes pivoted to new formats, such
as video GIFs, which are now circulated via new‐age social media
platforms, such as YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and so
forth. The abilities of self‐replication and imitation make memes
contagious, allowing memetic ideas to go viral with the help of
metaphors, such as images, videos, animations, hashtags, and GIFs
(Pech, 2003a).
We systematically reviewed the prior literature by analyzing the
objective, methodology, and conceptualization of memes, whether
the studies have proposed a measure of virality, and the studies'
broad findings (see Table 1). To begin, Williams (2000) argued that
contagiousness makes memes a suitable media vehicle for conducting
advertising and marketing campaigns. The study further found that
meme power is a function of two factors: “learnability”and
“infectiousness.”Williams (2000) also reported that powerful memes
are more capable of surviving, and hence, advertisers with a better
understanding of meme power are likely to leverage the potential of
memes to attain advertising and marketing goals. Pech (2003a)
argued that not all memes are successful and identified “meme
fitness”and “cognitive hardwiring”as two critical elements for
successful memes. Meme fitness refers to the following: (a) the
degree of compatibility between a meme and consumers' cognitive
hardwiring, (b) the ease of replicating the meme, (c) the ability of the
meme to align with the advertisers' communication needs, and (d) the
ability of the meme to trigger neural networks (Pech, 2003a). Pech
(2003b) reported that innovation is not limited to designing a
product; rather, it requires communicating and managing the
perceptions of the target segments in innovative ways. Furthermore,
using Rip Curl's case study, the study argued that a balanced use of
memes can promote innovation and, in turn, impact a firm's
profitability. Benaim (2018) extended the debate by identifying
memes as an important source of innovation for the cultural industry.
The study noted the symbolic value of memes as a resource for
cultural innovation (Benaim, 2018; Pech, 2003b).
Taecharungroj and Nueangjamnong (2015) argued that humor is
the key ingredient of the internet meme phenomenon and proposed
a framework to guide advertising and marketing practitioners in
incorporating humor into meme‐based advertising. Using the
source–message–channel–receiver framework, the study identified
four humor styles: affiliative, self‐enhancing, aggressive, and self‐
defeating (Taecharungroj & Nueangjamnong, 2015). Furthermore,
within each humor style, the study proposed seven types of humor:
comparison, personification, exaggeration, pun, sarcasm, silliness, and
FIGURE 3 Evolution of memes as a format.
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TABLE 1 A review of prior meme‐related research
Study Objective Methodology Conceptualization of memes Measure of virality Findings
Williams (2000) The study explores the possibility of
using memes for marketing
purposes.
Qualitative essay N/A No Memes have intuitive appeal among
consumers and, hence, can be used
to boost the effectiveness of
advertisements.
Pech (2003a) The study attempts to understand
why some memes are more
successful than others.
Case study analysis A meme is a tool used by behaviorists to
consciously and cognitively
communicate ideas and culture.
No Four criteria can be used to measure
meme fitness and explain how
cognitive hardwiring affects meme
fitness.
Pech (2003b) The study proposes a relationship
between meme management
and the profitability of an
organization.
Qualitative essay Memes are self‐replicating ideas or
thoughts.
Memes can influence market
perceptions.
Taecharungroj and
Nueangjamnong
(2015)
The study analyses the role of
various types and styles of
humor in making memes viral.
Content analysis
followed by
ANOVA
A meme is a communication tool and
engagement tool that is pre‐dominantly
built around humor.
No The study offers a framework for
creating humourous memes using
communication theories and viral
marketing theories.
Bury (2016) The study considers how internet
memes are creatively used in
advertising.
Qualitative essay Memes involve the juxtaposition of phrases
and pictures.
No Memes make advertisements more
memorable.
Csordás et al. (2017) The study evaluates the potential of
internet memes for advertising
and marketing.
Case study based Memes represent the language of the
internet culture.
No Internet memes can augment customer
experience on digital media for
marketers.
Brubaker et al. (2018) The study explores how people use
memes to engage with
organizations.
Content analysis Brand memes are created using existing
meme characteristics and circulated by
users to engage with organizations.
No Memes can help organizations actively
engage with the public. The study
also provides characteristics of
memes.
Benaim (2018) The study explores the symbolic
value of internet memes in the
context of symbolic innovations.
Exploratory coding A meme is a pre‐existing parody, pastiche,
mash‐up, or derivative of a creative
remix shared on the Internet.
No The study identified and classified
symbolic innovations while also
linking the innovations to internet
memes.
Sharma (2018) The study analyses the behavior of
social media users towards
memes in advertising.
Netnography N/A No Creatively modifying existing memes
presents novel opportunities for
marketers to brand over social media
platforms.
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surprise. Bury (2016) similarly reinforced the significance of humor in
memes by examining a random sample of five internet memes.
According to the study, when meme advertisements are created via
the comical juxtaposition of catchphrases and pre‐existing meme
templates, they become memorable and are frequently shared by the
consumers (Bury, 2016).
The prior literature has described memes as authentic pieces of
user‐generated content and, hence, powerful advertising tools
(Csordás et al., 2017). Leveraging contemporary and relevant
moments enables advertisers to connect with consumers' feelings
and thereby create memorable experiences for them (Csordás et al.,
2017). Similarly, Brubaker et al. (2018) proposed that memes (a) allow
consumers to interact freely with marketers and share their opinions
and (b) help marketers to effectively collect feedback about their
products and brands. For these reasons, the value of a successful
meme transcends any measure of its virality and reach (Brubaker
et al., 2018). Most recently, Chuah et al. (2020) examined the
association between the iconicity of memes and the type of language
features they employ. They found that highly iconic memes use
simple sentence structures, avoid slang, and are contextual.
While some arguments favor memes and their potential benefits
for businesses, the literature has also highlighted various disadvan-
tages of memes' use in marketing (Casey, 2018; Sharma, 2018). To
begin, Casey (2018) argued that memes may create adverse content
and thus result in negative outcomes. Similarly, Sharma (2018)
asserted that, unlike traditional media, which allows marketing
communication to be tightly controlled, memes are uncontrollable
and largely user‐generated. Therefore, marketers must thoroughly
understand the phenomenon of memes before adopting them in their
marketing communication strategies (Zappavigna, 2017). Neverthe-
less, limited studies offer insights into effective content creation and
design strategies for memes. The existing research is dominated by
case studies, which focus on content analysis techniques to analyze
selective meme‐based advertising campaigns.
Reviewing the extant literature, we observed that no prior study
has identified and presented strategies for creating and designing
viral memes. We also did not locate any prior study explaining
people's motivation to create, modify and share memes. Furthermore,
although the existing literature has employed the lens of viral
marketing to explain the transmission of memes (Davis et al., 2015;
Sharma, 2018), this theory exhibits several inherent limitations in
explaining the transmission of meme‐based advertising. First, in viral
marketing, the content is transmitted to the masses through media in
its original forms (Reichstein & Brusch, 2019). A meme allows
participants to creatively modify the content and distribute it as
a social phenomenon (Borah et al., 2020). The viral marketing
literature has thus far failed to explain the creative mutation and
active modification of memes. Because a successful meme requires
active participation and strong engagement, the viral marketing
literature must further explore the context of meme‐based
advertising. Additionally, memes can help marketers understand
consumer mindsets and offer a platform for social participation and
consumer activism. However, the existing literature has ignored the
TABLE 1 (Continued)
Study Objective Methodology Conceptualization of memes Measure of virality Findings
Chuah et al. (2020 The study attempts to understand
how youths interpret internet
memes in the context of social
media marketing.
Content analysis A meme is a combination of text and images
that is shared widely on the Internet and
social media.
No The iconicity of memes can be identified
using the language features.
Furthermore, highly iconic memes are
more influential.
Current study The study proposes an overarching
framework of viral memes in
marketing that includes
antecedents, moderators, and
consequences.
Qualitative:
Grounded
theory
A viral meme refers to fast‐spreading and
highly engaging content in text, image,
or video format with a high degree of
contraction, transmission, and exposure.
The three underlying
dimensions of virality
proposed in this study
can be measured
objectively.
The three antecedents are positively
associated with the virality of memes.
Furthermore, viral memes are
positively associated with brand
recall and engagement.
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underlying multi‐dimensional factors contributing to meme virality.
This study attempts to bridge these gaps in the literature.
3|METHODS
3.1 |Qualitative research design
The current study utilized a qualitative research design to accomplish
the following objectives: (a) identify the key antecedents that drive
meme virality, (b) capture the perspectives of multiple stakeholders—
that is, users, meme developers, memers, media agencies, brand
managers and influencers—and thereby understand the virality of
memes and (c) examine the possible moderators and outcomes of viral
memes. The limited nature of the literature on memes necessitated an
inductive research design based on grounded theory to achieve the
aforementioned research objectives. According to the grounded theory
approach, research must systematically capture and analyse multiple
perspectives (Strauss & Corbin, 1990). This approach helps to formulate
the relevant concepts and identify their conceptual relationships (Kumar
et al., 2019). Therefore, we asked various stakeholders—that is, media
agencies involved in creating memes, memers, brand managers,
influencers, and users—to share their perspectives and insights.
3.2 |Data collection
We conducted 35 in‐depth interviews with 20 meme users, six
memers (4 males and 2 females), four influencers (3 males and
1 female) and five brand managers (2 males and 3 females) over
8 weeks. We selected these participants using theoretical sampling
and developed the framework using concurrent data collection and
constant comparative analysis (Malodia et al., 2021). We invited
75 memers, influencers and brand managers—only those industry
professionals who were active on social media and engaged in
creating memes or using memes for their brands—through LinkedIn.
Of the 75 professionals invited, 15 responded to our request, and
due to the COVID‐19 pandemic, we conducted interviews with them
via Zoom calls. The 15 respondents fairly represented the profile of
the 75 invitees. Table 2briefly describes these stakeholders and their
roles in the meme advertising industry. The memers we interviewed
had extensive experience handling reputable brands, and their meme
pages had garnered over 2 million followers (Instagram). The brand
managers interviewed held senior positions and were responsible for
independently managing their respective portfolios of brands. Each of
the influencers, meanwhile, had over 500,000 followers (Instagram).
The above professionals were working in the Asia‐Pacific region and
had experience serving global clients for a minimum of 5 years. We
interviewed users in the age group of 18–45 because this cohort is
the primary target segment for most brands. The consumers were
also from the Asia‐Pacific region.
We used the approach of unstructured interviewing to avoid any
inadvertent or overt biases during the data collection process (Qu &
Dumay, 2011). We utilized probing questions to elicit responses in a
“nondirective”and “unobtrusive”manner (McCracken, 1988). Probing
questions enable further elaboration of an issue and generate deeper
insights. Given that the data collection and analysis were interrelated,
we also included follow‐up questions and sought clarification before
ending each interview (Corbin & Strauss, 1990). Hence, we adopted
an iterative approach to the data collection and coding processes.
The unstructured interviews described above allowed us to gather
various information regarding the meme marketing phenomenon
while offering a sufficient scope for finer analyses. Collectively, the
information provided by the various stakeholders was sufficient to
validate our research framework.
Providing powerful insights into the meme marketing phenome-
non, the interviews helped us capture the diverse perspectives of all
stakeholders engaged in meme marketing and enabled us to
understand the key drivers of meme virality. Furthermore, we
obtained insights into the measures of virality and the consequences
of viral memes.
3.3 |Interviews
We conducted in‐depth interviews with 35 participants, including 15
industry professionals and 20 consumers. The interviews with
industry professionals allowed us to explore the lesser‐known
domain of meme‐based advertising. In particular, these interviews,
which lasted an average of 75–90 min, helped us to understand the
key drivers of meme marketing campaigns and the factors that make
meme‐based advertisements go viral. We divided the interviews into
two parts. In the first part, each interviewee provided basic details
regarding their activities, including a brief overview of their
organization, marketing objectives, offerings, key clients, and
vendors. In the second part, we used a well‐defined interview
protocol to explore the following aspects of meme marketing: (a) the
factors considered when designing the content of a meme, i.e. how
the professionals selected the humor, genre, and format and how
they predicted the spreadability of the content, (b) the factors that
affect users' consumption and sharing of memes, i.e. how the industry
ensures that users will like, share and comment on meme‐based
advertisements, (c) the factors associated with the seeding and
distribution of memes across various media vehicles, (d) the measures
of virality, that is, how marketers measure the success of a meme
marketing campaign and the expected outcomes of meme marketing,
that is, the tangible as well as intangible outcomes that brands expect
to derive from investing in meme marketing. Our goal was to
understand the virality of memes and the dimensions underlying that
virality, which are rooted in the experiences of memers, brand
managers, and end users. We structured the interview discussions
around three core areas: (a) content‐related factors considered when
creating and consuming memes, (b) consumer‐related factors—
essentially the consumption values that consumers seek from memes,
and (c) media‐related factors affecting the diffusion of memes. We
encouraged the memers, brand managers, and influencers to share
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their understandings based on their relevant experiences managing
meme marketing projects.
Similarly, we conducted semi‐structured interviews with users. The
interview protocol captured the following information: (a) the meme
pages they followed, (b) their social media consumption habits, (c) their
preferences about online content, (d) the influencers they followed, (e) the
nature of their online activities, (f) the type of content they forwarded to
and received from their friends, (g) the type of memes they liked and why,
and (h) why they modified and forwarded memes. Insights from these
interviews helped us understand the nature and level of each
stakeholder's involvement in memes. Meme users were encouraged to
share their experiences and participation levels when consuming memes,
that is, liking, sharing, and commenting on various memes.
3.4 |Data analysis
All interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed indepen-
dently by four researchers. Adopting Corbin and Strauss's (1990)
approach, we coded the content of the interviews to identify the
zero‐order, first‐order and second‐order categories demonstrated in
the recent literature (Kumar et al., 2019; Malodia et al., 2019).
During open coding, we grouped statements with similar
intentions into zero‐order categories. Next, we identified the
patterns between zero‐order categories for axial coding and grouped
interrelated zero‐order categories into first‐order categories. We
further triangulated these efforts with the help of the academic and
practice literature—for example, by consulting reports to explain the
relevant context. Finally, we conducted selective coding to re‐group
the first‐order categories into second‐order categories (Kumar et al.,
2019; Nöjd et al., 2020). The second‐order categories offered a
systematic understanding of the virality of memes in the context of
marketing. We conducted reliability testing in three steps. In the first
step, we achieved internal consistency by integrating the indepen-
dent coding sheets of each researcher (Ulaga & Reinartz, 2011).
Second, we tested inter‐rater reliability by appointing a panel of two
academic scholars who were unfamiliar with the current study but
had to expertize in qualitative research methods. The expert panel
TABLE 2 Description of various stakeholders in meme marketing
Stakeholder Description Role in the industry Example
Memers Memers are creative individuals who
design and upload memes to various
meme pages. Meme pages are the
medium through which both meme
lords and memers share memes.
Memers who command high
popularity are termed ‘meme lords'.
These are the people who generally
start the trend of using a particular
template/sound in a meme. In
addition to meme lords, a second
category of memers act as a catalyst
in making a meme viral.
•Meme lords create interest around a
topic.
•Memers amplify this interest among the
masses.
•Meme lords and memers often receive
compensation from brand managers for
creating memes for their brands.
•Meme pages have a massive follower
base and can help to transmit memes to
extremely large audiences.
Meme Lords: ShitIndiansSay,
GajodharSinghCool
Memers: AgnikGhosh
Meme pages: Sagarcasm, memezar
Brand managers Brand managers are those who identify
meme virality and adopt memes for
use in their own branding.
•The brand manager's role is to identify
meme trends and curate them according
to their brand persona.
•Managers reach out to both memers and
agencies.
Durex, Netflix, Dunzo, etc
Media agencies Media agencies are the companies that
create memes based on the templates
made viral by meme lords. They then
customize memes to meet their
clientele's needs.
•Agencies are organizations that design
memes that are consistent with brand
guidelines.
•Unlike meme pages, which do not rely
on guidelines in creating memes,
agencies adhere to guidelines and post
memes on brands' pages.
DDB, Ogilvy, Schbang
Influencers Influencers are similar to celebrities with a
certain skill set.
Influencers, due to their large follower base,
can influence consumers.
Bhuvan Bam is a popular comedian
who has 20.7 million subscribers
to his YouTube channel
BBKiVines.
Users In this study, we define users as
individuals who follow meme pages
and are active on social media
platforms.
Users are the target segment for brands. A user can be any individual who
views, comments, and shares
memes with their network.
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reviewed our coding sheets and the categories we had identified
(open coding, axial coding, and selective coding). We measured their
agreement with the coding results to calculate Cohen's kappa (Cohen,
1968) and thereby assess the inter‐rater reliability. Third, we
established content validity by inviting the interviewees to review
the proposed categories (Kumar et al., 2019).
4|RESULTS
We identified five second‐order factors through qualitative analysis
of the interview data: (a) content‐related factors, (b) customer‐related
factors, (c) media‐related factors, (d) brand recall, and (e) brand
engagement. In addition, we identified nine first‐order factors:
relevance, iconicity, humor, spreadability, process, social and content
gratifications, seeding strategy, and distribution strategy. The
reliability index returned a kappa value of 0.87, which exceeded
the recommended threshold of 0.70 and thus indicated substantial
agreement (Rust & Cooil, 1994). To ensure content validity, we asked
the 35 participants to review the categories; 31 accepted the
invitation to participate in the content validity phase and suggested
minor changes in the open and axial coding vocabulary. We
incorporated their suggestions to enhance conceptual clarity and
arrive at the final coding (see Table 3). Next, we discuss the results of
the coding process.
4.1 |Content‐related factors
Content‐related factors encompass marketers' efforts to create
memes that can become viral and ultimately help brands generate
strong awareness, engagement and recall. We propose the follow as
content‐related factors: relevance, language structure, humor and
shareability.
4.1.1 |Relevance
We propose that content relevance will positively enhance the
likelihood of consumers receiving and subsequently sharing a meme.
To ensure a meme's relevance, advertisers must shape the content of
the meme as follows: (1) the content must be topical and popular
among the target consumers, (2) the target consumers must be
familiar with the content, (3) the consumers must find it relatable, (4)
the content must be contemporary, and (5) the content must be
noncontroversial. Our in‐depth interviews best explained this
construct as follows:
Basically, when you are constructing a meme, the
architecture has to be such that it has to be from the
trailer. If you have noticed, they don't take random
TABLE 3 Coding of qualitative interviews
Zero‐order First‐order Second‐order
Popular Relevance Content‐related
factors
Topical
Familiar
Watched before
Contemporary
Fewer words, more gestures Iconicity
Short and crisp
Simple sentences
Contextual language
Use of common words
Avoids incomplete sentences
Enjoyment Humor
Stupidity
Humourous
Quirky
Self‐deprecating
Self‐hate
Sarcastic
Wholesome
Darkly humourous
Dank jokes
Emotionally relatable Spreadability
Amusing
Trending
Connected to users
Easy to share
Informational
Memes are stress busters
Watching memes can
be fun
Process
gratification
(i.e. escapism)
Customer‐
related
factors
Memes are dopamine for
the mind
Watching memes when I feel
alone and lonely
Watching memes is the best
way to pass the time
Memes can serve as coping
mechanisms
Seeking validation Social gratification
Connecting with others
Making social presence
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memes from the show; they mainly consider the trailer
because a trailer is far more relatable to the audience
than the show. So the first thing we keep in mind is
the trailer and all the things which resonate with the
audience, and then it should be contemporary. [Memer]
Another respondent offered the following comment:
While we ensure that the meme content is relatable and
topical for the target audience, we stay clear from any
sort of controversy. [Brand manager]
Consistent with our interview data, schema theory also supports
the “relevance”construct (Axelrod, 1973). Schema theory proposes
that messages with an initial level of perceived relevance are likely to
fit the mental schema of the receiver and, hence, capture the
receiver's attention (i.e., contraction; Fox & Lind, 2020). For example,
the video “Gangnam Style”went viral globally but was not perceived
as relevant in Japan because it did not fit the mental schema of
Japanese culture (Fox & Lind, 2020; Lie, 2014). In contrast, a meme
that is designed to be relevant to the target audience and fits with
their mental schema is likely to go viral in marketing.
4.1.2 |Iconicity
In linguistics, iconicity describes the cognitive component of language
represented in signs and words (Chuah et al., 2020; Otterbring,
2021). Iconicity not only offers a measure of the clarity of the
intended communication but also plays a significant role in the
receiver's efforts to process and comprehend the message (Caselli &
Pyers, 2020; Otterbring, 2020; Sung et al., 2022). Because memes are
used as a medium of digital communication, iconicity is essential for
attaining a minimum threshold of comprehension. As active
participants in the construction and transmission of memes,
consumers must deconstruct and reconstruct the meanings hidden
(iconicity) in them. Successful memes, therefore, must be highly
iconic. One of the respondents commented as follows:
A viral meme is always high on the measure of iconicity,
i.e. it follows a set of linguistic rules in terms of sentence
structure, word choice and writing style. In my personal
opinion and experience, memes that are higher in
iconicity are easier to comprehend and hence more
widely shared. [Memer]
Based on in‐depth interviews, we observed that memes with high
iconicity have simpler, more complete sentences with fewer dangling
elements. To achieve high iconicity, memes should thus adopt
commonly used words; in other words, popular lingo makes memes
more comprehensible, and short forms should be avoided. Finally, the
writing style should be contextual with situational description.
For example, one of the industry experts shared the following:
You pick out what you think is the most viral element,
and then you use it to create a meme. The fewer the
words, the better. People associate better to gestures and
emotions than to words. That's the millennial mind
strategy. [Brand manager]
TABLE 3 (Continued)
Zero‐order First‐order Second‐order
Tool for social interaction
Memes are informational Content
gratification
Memes offer a medium to
share ideas and thoughts
Memes allow individuals to be
known as experts
Time of release Seeding strategy Media‐related
factors
Media of release
Selection of target audience
Referral generation
Use of influencers Distribution
strategy
Amplification of trending
memes
Use of meme pagesHiring
of meme lords
Guidelines for do's and don'ts Brand guidelines Brand
guidelines
Guidelines regarding genres
Guidelines regarding subjects
Redemption coupons Rewards Rewards
Meme contests
People associate brands with
memes
Brand recall
High recall for brands active in
memes
High awareness for brands
active in memes
People share meme‐based
advertisements
Brand
engagement
Brands active in memes have
more followers on their
social media pages
People actively create and
modify brand memes
Engagement is high for
meme‐based posts
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Together, sentence structure, word choice and writing style
define the overall schema of iconicity in the context of memes. We
further argue that these linguistic schemata guide the conscious,
participatory and self‐initiated cultural transmissions of social ideas.
4.1.3 |Humor selection
Humor is defined as an effort to provoke fun, laughter or amusement
(Taecharungroj & Nueangjamnong, 2015). Analyzing different types
of memes and interview data from various stakeholders, we observed
that an important characteristic of memes is their use of humor. We
identified humor styles ranging from affiliative to aggressive and self‐
enhancing to self‐deprecating. Furthermore, types of humor included
bizarre jokes, dark humor, exaggeration, quirky content, parody, puns,
sarcasm, self‐deprecating jokes, and silliness, among others. Propo-
nents argue that humor is not only an essential element of memes but
an essential ingredient for their virality (Taecharungroj &
Nueangjamnong, 2015). One of the respondents made the following
observation:
Humor is the key ingredient in any meme. If I have to give
you a ballpark figure, I would say 90 percent of memes
have some element of humor. However, the interpreta-
tion of humor varies from user to user. [Brand manager]
Similarly, another respondent commented as follows:
We use humor as the key ingredient of memes because it
creates amusement and an element of surprise while
evoking positive emotions in consumers. However, not all
consumers are appreciative of all types of humor. For
example, millennials love dark humor, but boomers just
do not understand dark humor; they are, instead, amused
with husband–wife jokes. Therefore, we select the type of
humor we use in memes by carefully analyzing the target
audiences and the brand in question. [Brand manager]
Humor has long been an important element of communication,
and research has argued that humor‐induced communication is
contagious (Eisend, 2022; Weber & Quiring, 2019). Once initiated,
humor is likely to trigger social contagion and elicit a response from
users (transmission of humorous content), that is, mimicked behavior
(Smoski & Bachorowski, 2003; Weber & Quiring, 2019). In the
context of memes, the traditional responses include “liking,”
“sharing,”“commenting on,”and active modifying memes. Never-
theless, scholars have shown that the contagion effect of humor may
vary with the style and type of humor preferred by the sender and
receiver (Gignac et al., 2014; Kozbelt & Nishioka, 2010). Therefore,
we contend that humor selection in the context of memes involves
identifying the most effective combination of the “type”and “style”of
humor for a particular audience. Further, based on the above insights
from the interviews and relevant literature, we propose that the
selection of an appropriate humor strategy significantly influences
meme virality.
4.1.4 |Spreadability
In the context of memes, spreadability refers to the speed and ease
with which a meme template can flow across communities on various
internet platforms. Mills (2012) identified two characteristics under-
lying spreadability: likeability and shareability. Likeability is the
degree to which the content can stimulate the recipient's interest
while shareability refers to the recipient's willingness to further
distribute the content (Mills, 2012). The insights from our interviews
indicated that once the creating agency releases a meme template via
social media and other internet platforms, the transmission and
exposure of the meme depend upon its appeal to the recipients, that
is, the recipients will like the meme if they find it to be amusing and
emotionally relatable. If the meme's topic is trending, topical, and
informational and the template is easy to share, moreover, these
recipients will be motivated to further disseminate it. Taecharungroj
and Nueangjamnong (2015) argued that when users share a meme,
the meme's competitiveness increases as does the likelihood of its
selection by other users. One of our interviewees made a similar
observation:
People share memes when they feel amused and the
meme affects them either emotionally or cognitively.
Immediately, they want others to know and spread it
further. Let me give you an example. Recently, there was
a meme trending about Dream Eleven.
5
The meme said,
“I will do this study; you go and make the team on Dream
Eleven”. This meme was so easy to contextualize and
share that one of the political parties used the template
and made a meme about the ruling party, which said
something like, “We will do the public service; you go and
make a team on Dream Eleven.”[Memer]
The above arguments find support in social contagion theory (Hinz
et al., 2011). The literature argues that social contagion is a basic
premise of viral marketing. Contagion occurs when people develop a
positive attitude or behavior toward particular content (Hinz et al.,
2011). Therefore, based on our qualitative data and tenets of social
contagion theory, we propose that 'spreadability' is an important
element of meme content, which positively influences meme virality.
The above discussion suggests that all four content‐related
factors directly influence a meme's virality. Relevance draws the
receiver's attention (i.e. contraction) while iconicity and humor
influence the meme's quick transmission or spreadability, which
increases the meme's exposure. Thus, we advance the following
proposition:
5
Dream Eleven is an Indian virtual sports platform.
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P1. Content‐related factors are positively associated with meme
virality.
We test Proposition 1 via the following hypothesis in our
quantitative Study 1.
H1: Content‐related factors—(a) relevance, (b) iconicity, (c)
humor, and (d) spreadability—positively affect meme virality.
4.2 |Customer‐related factors
Creating a viral meme involves seeding a meme template and
transmitting it over the internet by leveraging consumers' personal
social networks. The challenge for marketers, therefore, is to
motivate consumers to notice, like, comment on, and transmit the
message associated with their brand. Our in‐depth qualitative data,
triangulation of data, and application of the tenets of the ‘uses and
gratification’theory (UGT) revealed three types of gratifications that
motivate consumers to view and disseminate memes via various
internet platforms. UGT explains the types of gratification needs that
motivate people to prefer a specific type of media usage (Kaur et al.,
2020). UGT takes a user‐centric approach to understanding what
people do with media; in other words, the theory assumes that
people actively select certain media and are motivated to engage
with a meme only by their desire for a specific gratification (Dhir &
Chen, & Chen, 2017). The three gratification needs to be proposed in
this study are “process (i.e. escapism) gratification,”“social gratification,”
and “content gratification.”In this section, we discuss these three
gratifications as important customer‐related factors that are posi-
tively associated with meme virality.
4.2.1 |Process gratification
Process gratification refers to gratification derived from the process
of engaging in a certain activity, such as searching for something,
entertaining oneself, passing time, and so forth (Liu et al., 2010). This
study's results identified escapism among the important gratifications
users seek when viewing and sharing memes. Escapism refers to the
practice of viewing and sharing memes for enjoyment, fun, and
pleasure. The existing literature has found 'escapism' to be an
important gratification consumer seek when using the internet
(Korgaonkar & Wolin, 1999) and social media (Whiting & Williams,
2013). Our qualitative study indicated that memes provide an escape
from the reality of life into the realm of humor, shared misery, and
nihilism. One participant commented as follows:
I use memes as a stress buster; when I have a lot of stress
and am unable to concentrate on my work, I just leave
my work aside and go through the memes on my
Instagram page. There was a time when I used to follow
more meme pages than everything else because that is
the kind of content that I personally want so that I have
better peace of mind. [User]
Another participant shared a similar sentiment:
Whenever I see memes, it releases dopamine in my mind,
and it catches my attention. [User]
The prior literature has found that escapism motivates consum-
ers to continue using social media (Gallego et al., 2016). Similarly, Gan
and Li (2018) examined consumers' continuance intentions to use
WeChat, finding that pastime, enjoyment and fun are important
motivators for this social application's use. Consistent with the UGT
literature and our qualitative interviews, we propose that escapism
motivates consumers to view and transmit memes and thus
contributes positively to meme virality.
4.2.2 |Social gratification
Social gratification refers to the degree to which individuals seek
memes as a medium to connect and socialize with others, express their
self‐identity and seek validation for their ideas (Kaur et al., 2020). The
previous literature has identified social gratification as an important
driver of social media and internet usage (Choi et al., 2015; Dhir & Chen,
& Chen, 2017;Kauretal.,2020). According to our analysis of the
interview transcripts, consumers modify and share memes to assert
their presence in a social group and connect with other like‐minded
members. During our interviews, one meme user commented as follows:
What I believe is that memes are a trendy thing to follow
on social media. If your peer group/friend circle is into
memes, then it may be good to share memes on your
social media page to be relevant and stay con-
nected. [User]
Another user added the following:
What I noticed in our generation is that people go
through a lot of alone phases, and when you see a meme
that is relatable to you or a meme that has a similar kind
of humor, you feel there is someone out there in the
world who thinks similarly. Basically, it is a kind of
assurance that you are not alone and there are people
who think like you. [User]
Based on our qualitative inquiry and UGT, we assert that 'social
gratification' is an important predictor of participation in the meme
phenomenon. Therefore, we expect social gratification to be
positively associated with meme virality.
4.2.3 |Content gratification
Content gratification refers to the extent to which consumers rely on
memes as a medium for sharing and receiving informative content
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(Kaur et al., 2020). The prior literature has recognized content
gratification as an important factor motivating the use of internet‐
mediated social platforms (Dhir & Tsai, 2017; Stafford et al., 2004).
Dhir and Tsai (2017) observed that information seeking significantly
influences the intensity of Facebook usage among adolescents and
young adults. Similarly, in the context of memes, Shifman (2013)
argued that memes play a significant role in communicating ideas and
ideologies by manifesting information through memetic content
within a specific context. Additionally, our interviews with meme
users revealed memes' increasing status among popular news media.
One respondent shared the following:
Whenever trending news breaks out, a large number of
memes around that topic start floating on various
internet platforms. For example, when the US Capitol
incident happened, a huge number of memes started
circulating on the internet, and frankly speaking, I log on
to news channels only to check out the details of the
incident after I find a trending meme in my social
network. [User]
The opportunity to contribute content by modifying meme
templates or writing commentary on existing memes is the key
motivator behind people's engagement with memes. Our interviews
indicated that individuals seek appreciation for the information they
share via their social media handles; hence, they actively engage in
creating memes to showcase their expertise on selected subjects.
One participant commented as follows:
I have created a meme page for my college‐related
events, and I try to share all news related to my campus
through creative memes. Initially, I was the one who
created all of the memes, but now my peers are actively
participating in content creation. A lot of information at
my campus now breaks through my meme page. [User]
Based on the above discussion, we argue that a meme's ability to
fulfill users' information‐seeking needs will be positively associated
with the meme's contagiousness. Hence, we expect that content
gratification will be positively associated with meme virality.
P2. Customer gratification needs (process, social and content
gratifications) are positively associated with the virality of memes.
To test Proposition 2, we use an online quasi‐experiment, that is,
quantitative Study 2, and operationalize the above proposition in the
form of the following hypothesis:
H2: Customer gratification needs—(a) escapism, (b) social gratifica-
tion, and (c) content gratification—positively affect meme virality.
4.3 |Media‐related factors
Social networks have enabled the successful dissemination of memes
and the influencing of target audiences. However, maximizing
memes' overall reach and virality requires selecting the appropriate
set of media‐related factors. Media‐related factors are the external
drivers that transmit memes and enable their virality. Our qualitative
study identified “seeding strategies”and “distribution strategies”as two
important media‐related factors that are positively associated with
meme virality. We utilize the theoretical reasoning offered by “social
contagion theory”to explain these media‐related factors.
4.3.1 |Seeding strategies
Seeding strategies in the context of memes refer to the selection of
attractive seeding nodes, including the initial target segment, media
type, and release time. In the context of viral marketing, Hinz et al.
(2011) observed that seeding strategies play a significant role in a
marketing campaign's success or failure. Using social network theory,
Liu‐Thompkins (2012) presented important elements of seeding
strategies, including the initial target segment, the relationship between
the source of the viral message and the initial target segment, the
degree of influence exhibited by the initial receivers, and the
characteristics of the media. Thus, efforts to target the correct audience
as initial seeds and to select the correct media platform are likely to
increase a meme's reach and encourage new users to share it. Offering
insights on seeding strategies, one respondent commented as follows:
When doing meme advertising, three things are very
important. First, the meme has to be timely. If you need to
reach out to the maximum number of people, you have to
release the meme while the topic is trending because that
is when people are actively search for the trending topic.
The second important element is the geographic location
where you release the meme because that will become
your initial seed. Finally, the third important element in
meme advertising is the selection of the right media
platform.[Brandmanager]
Our qualitative data revealed that effective seeding of memes
requires a clear targeting strategy, i.e. selecting the initial seeds,
which further generates referral and facilitates the transmission of
the meme to a new group of consumers. Using social contagion
theory, Hinz et al. (2011) argued that well‐networked individuals are
actively engaged in the diffusion of viral content and exert significant
influence over others in their network. Similarly, we observed that
the process of media selection is important. One of the senior
representatives of a media agency stated the following:
The media plays an important role in the diffusion of a
meme. Millennials are mostly on Instagram, whereas
boomers are more likely to follow meme pages on
Facebook. Therefore, if I was creating a campaign for a
jewelry firm, I would focus more on Facebook, whereas if
my client was a food delivery app, I would do a campaign
on Instagram. [Influencer]
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Utilizing the above insights and building upon the social
contagion literature, this study proposes seeding strategies as a
significant predictor of a meme campaign's virality.
4.3.2 |Distribution strategies
Distribution strategies refer to the amplification of a meme through
efforts to construct partnerships with relevant stakeholders, such as
influencers, meme lords, and meme pages. According to our
qualitative research, effective distribution is key to the success of a
meme advertising campaign. The amplification of memes must be
swift enough to reach the target audience while the topic remains
trending. Our qualitative data revealed that meme pages play a
significant role in the effective amplification of memes, whereas
influencers and meme lords promote the distribution of memes
beyond the initial seed. One interviewee commented as follows:
Brands can leverage memes successfully only if they can
reach out to the target audience, so it is important to
distribute memes. If you want to reach out to an audience
beyond your followers, you need to rope in the right set of
influencers, meme lords, and meme pages. [Influencer]
The evolution of the internet and social media has created
unique opportunities for the distribution and amplification of digital
content. Micro‐celebrities and influencers leverage their popularity to
disseminate content through online communities and social media
sites (Nah & Siau, 2020). Pande (2018) argued that target consumers
perceive micro‐celebrities to be more authentic than actual celebri-
ties; hence, micro‐celebrities can better facilitate engagement. Micro‐
celebrities trigger emotional contagion among their followers on
social media platforms, resulting in a multi‐fold increase in the
number of views and subscriptions (M. T. Lee & Theokary, 2020).
Social contagion theory and field observations suggest that meme
virality is subject to the amplification achieved by the distribution
strategy. Therefore, we propose a significant positive relationship
between distribution strategies and meme virality.
P3. Seeding strategies and distribution strategies are positively
associated with meme virality.
The above proposition is operationalized in Hypothesis 3 and
further validated using quantitative Study 2.
H3: (a) Seeding strategies and (b) media selection positively
affect meme virality.
4.4 |Outcomes of viral memes
We observed that firms utilize meme marketing to create strong
brand recall and increase customer engagement. This section
discusses “brand recall”and ‘customer engagement’as two outcomes
of viral memes.
Brand recall refers to the ability of consumers to identify a brand
with or without a cue. Strong recall creates top‐of‐the‐mind
awareness of a given product or service (Percy & Rossiter, 1992).
Though firms acknowledge the significance of digital communications
and viral marketing tactics to create strong brands, firms must focus
on this complex phenomenon and utilize strategic insights to position
their brands well and thereby increase brand recall (Dobele et al.,
2005). During our qualitative interviews, we found that marketers
use memes to increase brand recall. One of the respondents
commented as follows:
We saw a significant increase in meme impressions from
20 million in August 2019 to 25 million in July 2020.
People are actively watching memes shared by brands,
and surely, it is increasing brand recall. [Memer]
Another respondent added the following:
We recently carried out an experiment. First, we asked
people to name five brands that are actively using memes
in their digital marketing strategy. The top five names
were Durex, Netflix, Zomato, Paytm, and Amazon. In the
second round, we shortlisted one meme per brand and
concealed the brand name. Next, we asked participants
to identify the brand name for each meme. The results
validated our hypothesis, and the memes that were more
viral generated higher recall. [Media agency]
Consumers actively search for memetic content, and viral memes
help firms increase brand recall. For example, the most popular meme
pages have millions of followers (e.g. on Instagram, @epicfunnypage
has 17.2 million followers and @memezar has 16.1 million followers
while, on Facebook, @memes has 8.9 million page likes and
@epiclol.com has 5.3 million page likes). Carefully selecting and
modifying meme templates to build marketing campaigns offer
potential seeds for viral memes, which create positive buzz around
a brand and, ultimately, improve brand recall (Chan & Lowe, 2020).
Thus, viral memes can deliver the desired brand performance metrics,
such as awareness and recall.
Brand engagement in viral memes refers to brand–consumer
interactions through memes and the co‐creation of memetic
content. Brodie et al. (2011)conceptualizedcustomerengagement
based on two broad dimensions: “interactive experience”and “value
co‐creation.”Brand seek to increase engagement by interacting
with customers through social platforms (Azar et al., 2016).
Existing studies related to viral marketing propose customer
engagement—measured in terms of comments, likes and shares—
as a potential outcome of viral marketing (Cvijikj & Michahelles,
2013). The current research revealed similar observations, indicat-
ing that memes enhance consumer engagement measured in terms
of likes, comments, shares, and modifications of memes. One
respondent commented as follows:
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Memes clearly help brands to strengthen their engage-
ment with consumers. It is easy and convenient for
consumers to react and respond to memes. We created a
meme for a political party, and immediately, people
started debating the post and the subject. [Meme lord]
Another respondent added the following:
Our brand is using paid campaigns as well as meme‐
based marketing campaigns. Memes are winning the
engagement battle. [Brand manager]
In the digital era, moreover, firms can measure brand engage-
ment with precision. For example, one of the media agencies shared
that commonly used industry metrics calculate engagement with a
viral meme as the ratio of total likes, shares, comments, and
modifications over total followers.
P4. Viral memes are positively associated with brand awareness
and brand engagement.
The corresponding hypothesis for the above proposition is as
follows:
H4: Viral memes positively affect (a) brand engagement and (b)
brand recall.
4.5 |Boundary conditions
Our study identified two boundary conditions: “brand guidelines,”
which moderate the association between the antecedents of viral
memes and meme virality, and “rewards,”which moderate the
association between meme virality and outcomes.
Brand guidelines refer to the specific instructions and guidelines
brands issue to media agencies to design and distribute memes. Strict
guidelines from brands constrain media agencies' ability to design the
content of a meme, address customers' gratification needs and select
appropriate media. During data collection, one media representative
commented as follows:
Working with brands for more than a decade, I have
experienced that a meme‐based ad campaign is success-
ful only when brand guidelines are consistent and offer
adequate flexibility to the creative team. [Memer]
Another respondent added the following:
We have a clear policy to not use political satire and
controversial content in our memes. Otherwise, we allow
our agency to use their creativity. These simple yet clear
guidelines have helped us and our media agency. [Brand
manager]
The insights from our qualitative interviews revealed that while it
is important to establish brand guidelines for meme advertising, these
guidelines should not be excessively specific. Rather, they should
allow creative teams the freedom to choose meme colors, info-
graphics, subjects and topics. Therefore, we advance the following
proposition:
P5. Brand guidelines moderate the strength of the association
between antecedents (content‐related factors, customer‐related
factors and media‐related factors) and meme virality.
Rewards refer to incentives, such as cashback, credit points, and
gift coupons, which brands—seeking to deepen brand–customer
engagement—offer consumers for participating in meme campaigns.
We found that incentivizing participation can act as a catalyst for
increasing the outcomes of viral memes. One respondent shared the
following:
We were tasked to design a meme campaign for one of
our clients. To execute the campaign we invited end users
to participate in modifying and creating the memes, and
shortlisted participants were given gift vouchers. This
campaign generated a quick boost in engagement and
brand recall. [Memer]
Consistent with our qualitative observations, the existing
literature has argued that incentives promote customer engagement
and motivate customers to write reviews, provide referrals and rate
their experiences (Harmeling et al., 2017).
P6. Rewards positively moderate the outcomes of viral memes.
5|A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK:
ANTECEDENTS OF OUTCOMES OF VIRAL
MEME‐BASED ADVERTISING
Following the coding exercise, our three‐stage assessment of
reliability enabled us to propose a framework that represents
industry practices used in meme marketing. Finally, we organized a
panel discussion and presented our conceptual framework to the
academic and industry expert panel. Panel members were encour-
aged to share their feedback and offer suggestions regarding the
accuracy of the proposed framework (see Figure 4). This step allowed
us to incorporate industry practices and eliminate a few categories
that were not explicative of the meme phenomenon being studied.
5.1 |Proposed framework for meme virality
We propose a meme virality framework based on our qualitative
research and theoretical analysis (Figure 4). We identify three
dimensions to conceptualize meme virality: contraction, transmission,
and exposure (Libert & Tynski, 2013). We define contraction as the
propensity of users to click on the meme when the brand first shares
it; one can also measure contraction in terms of CTR. Transmission is
defined as users sharing a meme—either in its original form or by
creatively modifying it—via social media. Transmission can also be
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measured as the percentage of users sharing a meme out of the total
users who click on it. Exposure refers to the spread of a meme when
users share it. To support the conceptual framework, we draw upon two
primary theories: “schema theory”(Murphy, 1990)and“social contagion
theory”(Sullins, 1991). Rooted in cognitive psychology, schema theory
has wider theoretical implications in marketing research, and it has been
used to explain the viral replication and mutation of cultural information
(Fox & Lind, 2020). According to schema theory, consumers rely on their
mental schemata to process content and evaluate its utilitarian and
hedonic value (Schulze et al., 2014). Sullins (1991) defines social
contagion as “the process by which individuals seems to catch the mood
of those around them.”Our conceptual framework builds upon this
definition to explain the spread of the meme phenomenon as an
automatic and continuous behavioral response among consumers to
receiveaviralmeme(contraction)andactively participate in spreading it
(transmission and exposure).
Accordingly, the proposed conceptual framework suggests that
the content‐related factors (relevance, language structure, humor,
and shareability) determine contraction in the overall virality of
memes. Similarly, the customer‐related factors (escapism, social
gratification, and content gratification) and media‐related factors
(seeding strategies and distribution strategies) significantly determine
meme virality. In addition to the above determinants of meme virality,
we also identify moderators that influence the virality of memes as
well as the outcomes of viral memes. We identify these moderators
as follows: (a) company guidelines, (b) rewards, and (c) brand
categories. Finally, we discuss the following outcomes of meme
marketing: (a) brand recall, (b) brand awareness, and (c) brand
engagement. Figure 1elucidates the meme virality framework.
6|QUANTITATIVE STUDY
The theoretical framework identified using qualitative research was
subjected to empirical validation by conducting multiple studies
(Table 4). Study 1 aimed at validating Hypothesis 1, Study 2 sought to
validate Hypotheses 2 and 3, and Studies 3a and 3b validated
Hypothesis 4. Studies 1 and 2 adopted an experimental research
design, while Study 3 analyzed the archival data set collected and
coded manually.
6.1 |Study 1
Using an experimental design, Study 1 manipulated relevance,
iconicity, humor, and spreadability in meme‐based posts from a
fictitious brand in the context of a fictitious event. This study
attempted to validate the significance of “relevance,”“iconicity,”
“humor,”and “spreadability”on the virality of meme‐based posts
made by a brand.
6.1.1 |Study design and analysis
We recruited 247 subjects from a behavioral lab to participate in the
experiment. The participants were asked a screening question (i.e.
“I have an Instagram account”) before assigning them to an
experiment. We designed eight experimental conditions using
orthogonal reduction from 2 (relevance: low vs. high) × 2 (iconicity:
low vs. high) ×3 (humor: dark vs. self‐depreciating vs. amusing) × 2
(spreadability: low vs. high). Forty‐seven participants were unen-
gaged respondents and failed the attention test (“I am a human
being,”1 = strongly agree and 5 = strongly disagree). Therefore, we
conducted the final analysis with 200 observations (female= 50%,
M
age
= 31.67, SD = 12.21). Participants' average activity on Instagram
was recorded via responses to the statement ‘I am highly active on
Instagram’(0 = highly disagree 10 = highly agree) with mean activity
of 6.8 (SD = 2.1). The experiment began with participants viewing a
video clip (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p‐a3P‐u6vpM). The
clip was then used to create meme‐based posts for a fictitious food
delivery app, “order_order.”Participants were told that this video had
gone viral after being played by a news channel, and memes related
FIGURE 4 Meme virality framework.
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to this video were being circulated on various social media platforms.
After watching the video, the participants were shown an Instagram
post made by “order_order”in which the four variables were
manipulated (Appendix A). As a measure of virality, participants
rated the statement ‘I am going to like this post' (0 = “strongly
disagree,”10 = “strongly agree') on an 11‐point Likert scale. Manipu-
lation checks asked respondents to rate relevance‐(“In my opinion,
this meme is highly relevant”), iconicity‐(“I could easily understand
this meme at the first look”), humor‐(“I like the humor in this meme”),
and spreadability‐related questions (“I appreciate this meme”and “I
believe my friends will definitely share this meme”).
Manipulation checks were conducted. A 2 (relevance) × 2
(iconicity) × 3 (humor) × 2 (spreadability) analysis of variance (ANO-
VA) on relevance supports the manipulation of using relevance
(Table 5). Participants exposed to high relevance experiment
conditions rated the content to be more relevant (M
high
= 6.94,
SE = 0.16) than did participants exposed to low relevance conditions
(M
low
= 5.84, SE = 0.14; F[1, 192] = 13.26, p< .001, partial η
2
= 0.58).
A2×2×3×2 ANOVA on iconicity yielded a main effect of iconicity,
that is, the participants assigned to high iconicity conditions rated the
content to be more iconic (M
high
= 5.60, SE = 0.14) than did
participants exposed to low iconicity conditions (M
low
= 4.72, SE =
0.18; F[1, 192] = 3.89, p< .001, partial η
2
= 0.29). In addition, a
2×2×3×2 ANOVA on humor revealed that dark humor had the
strongest main effect on the humor condition (M
dark
= 9.23, SE =
0.16), followed by self‐depreciating humor (M
self‐depreciating
= 8.45,
SE = 0.18) and amusing humor (M
amusing
= 7.90, SE = 0.18; F[1,
192] = 16.26, p< .001, partial η
2
= 0.63). Finally, participants in the
high spreadability condition rated the stimuli to be higher on
spreadability (M
high
= 4.38, SE = 0.09) than did those in the low
spreadability condition (M
low
= 3.84, SE = 0.08; F[1, 192] = 13.28,
p< .001, partial η
2
= 0.58).
To validate Proposition 1, we conducted a 2 (relevance) × 2
(iconicity) × 3 (humor) × 2 (spreadability) ANOVA on “intention to
share the meme post”as the dependent variable. The outcome of the
ANOVA showed a main effect for relevance (M
high
= 7.92 vs.
M
low
= 6.80, F[1, 192] = 11.74, p< .001, partial η
2
= 0.06), iconicity
(M
high
= 7.87 vs. M
low
= 6.85, F[1, 192] = 22.70, p< .001, partial
η
2
= 0.11), humor (M
dark
= 7.64, vs. M
self‐depreciating
= 7.14, vs. M
amus-
ing
= 6.14; F[1, 192] = 35.46, p< .001, partial η
2
= 0.28) and spread-
ability (M
high
= 7.74 vs. M
low
= 6.99, F[1, 192] = 20.60, p< .001, partial
η
2
= 0.10).
6.1.2 |Moderators
We further tested the impact of three moderating variables: target
segment (generation), geography (metro vs. nonmetro customers) and
gender. Consistent with our theoretical framework, we observed the
significant interaction effect of age group—that is, “generation”—with
iconicity (F[1,192] = 3.62, p< .05, partial η
2
= .67) and humor
(F[1,192] = 5.10, p< .05, partial η
2
= .92). Similarly, geography—that
is, metro versus nonmetro customers—significantly interacted with
TABLE 4 Summary of findings from quantitative studies
Study Method Observations Design Findings
Study 1H1 Lab experiment Instagram post for a fictitious brand
“order_order”;N= 200
2 (Relevance: low vs. high) × 2 (Iconicity: low vs.
high) × 3 (humor: dark vs. self‐depreciating vs.
amusing) ×2 (spreadability: low vs. high) DV:
intention to share
Control: gender, generation, geography
Relevant memes coupled with iconicity, humor, and
spreadability exhibit greater virality. Successful moderation
was observed between generation × iconicity,
generation × humor, gender × humor, geography × humor,
and geography × iconicity
Study 2
H2 & H3
Online quasi‐
experiment
Participants from an online survey
panel (N= 458)
We conducted a CFA and path analysis on five latent
constructs measuring customer‐related factors
(escapism, social gratification, and content
gratification) and media‐related factors (seeding and
distribution) as IVs and intention to share as the DV.
Both customer‐related factors and media‐related factors
significantly impact meme virality. The following
moderation effects were found to be significant: gender x
social gratification, gender × content gratification,
gender × seeding, generation × social gratification.
Study 3a
H4a
Event study Manually collected data from #shweta trend for
15 brands posts on Instagram
Coding the Instagram posts, we compared meme‐based
posts with non‐meme‐based posts using ANOVA.
We observed that meme‐based posts generate greater
customer engagement than do non‐meme‐based posts.
Study 3b
H4b
Brand recall
survey
Five memes were randomly selected from a pool
of 25 shortlisted brands; N= 127 participants
responded to the brand recall survey
Recall rate calculated for the selected brands. We observed that viral memes that score high on content‐
related, customer‐related, and media‐related factors have a
greater brand recall.
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humor (F[1,192] = 6.85, p< .05, partial η
2
= .91). We also observed a
significant three‐way interaction between relevance, iconicity and
geography (F[1,192] = 5.89, p< .05, partial η
2
= .67). It was observed
that gender strongly interacted with humor (F[1,192] = 11.45,
p< .05, partial η
2
= .99).
6.1.3 |Discussion
The results offer empirical evidence for Hypothesis 1 (H1a–H1d),
demonstrating that content‐related factors—that is, relevance,
iconicity, humor and spreadability—significantly impact the virality
of meme‐based posts made by brands. Furthermore, the findings of
the study suggest that dark humor has the strongest main effect on
virality, followed by self‐deprecating humor and amusement. We
next conducted Study 2 to validate the impact of customer‐related
factors and media‐related factors on the virality of memes.
6.2 |Study 2
The second study employed a quasi‐experimental design to explain
the influence of customer‐related factors (P2: H2a–H2c) and media‐
related factors (P3: H3a–H3b) on the dependent variable “intention
to share a meme‐based post.”
The participants in this study first viewed a meme in the
context of a fictional brand and then answered two questions: (a) “I
am highly likely to share this meme”(0 = Highly disagree,
10 = Highly agree) and (b) “In my opinion, this meme will become
viral”(0=No, 1=Yes). After 1min, participants were presented
with a survey instrument. The objective of the questionnaire was
to identify the customer‐related and media‐related factors
influencing the virality of memes. Scale items were adopted from
the existing literature and our qualitative study.
6.2.1 |Analysis and results
Four hundred seventy‐two respondents participated in the study, of
which 458 participants qualified as engaged respondents. The survey
results were subjected to confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to
establish the validity of the measurement model, goodness of fit and
construct reliability. Further, we assessed the reliability of the five
constructs, their uni‐dimensionality and validity using the average
variance extracted (AVE) and composite reliability (Table 6). The item
loadings for all five constructs exceeded 0.56 (Hair et al., 1998);
hence, item reliability was established. Finally, multicollinearity tests
confirmed that the multi‐collinearity issue was absent from the
research model. Table 7presents summaries of the model fit indices
for both the measurement and structural models.
We adopted a multi‐pronged approach to test for common
method bias (Chang et al., 2010). First, at the data collection stage,
we worded the scale items carefully to reduce ambiguity; in addition,
we randomized the questionnaire items and assured the respondents
of their anonymity (Podsakoff et al., 2012). Second, we conducted a
post‐hoc Harman's single‐factor test and observed a total explained
variance of 21.02%, which was below the recommended cut off value
of 50% (Harman, 1967). Finally, we included a common latent factor
in the model. The above steps ensured the absence of common
method bias, and hence, no further correction of common method
bias was required.
To test the impact of customer‐related factors and media‐
related factors on meme virality, we validated the research model
(Figure 5) using structural equation modeling. The tested model
was found significant (X
2
= 42.68, df =40, p=.00, X
2
/df = 1.067)
with satisfactory model fit indices (Table 7). Both customer‐related
and media‐related factors exerted a significant impact on the
intention to like a meme‐based advertisement. Hence, we
observed empirical evidence for proposed Hypotheses 2 (a, b,
and c) and 3 (a and b).
TABLE 5 Comparison of means for the experimental conditions
R‐low,
I‐low, H‐2,
S‐low
R‐low,
I‐high,
H‐3, S‐high
R‐high,
I‐low,
H‐1, S‐low
R‐low,
I‐high,
H‐1, S‐low
R‐high,
I‐high,
H‐1, S‐high
R‐high,
I‐low, H‐3,
S‐high
R‐low,
I‐low,
H‐3, S‐low
R‐high,
I‐high,
H‐2, S‐high
Manipulation checks
Relevance 5.27
1
6.67
2
6.85
2
5.42
1
7.43
3
6.50
2
6.00
1
7.00
3
Iconicity 4.91
1
5.12
1
4.46
1
5.20
2
6.29
3
4.50
1
5.00
1
5.78
2
Humor 7.91
1
6.00
2
9.08
3
9.20
3
9.43
3
8.50
1
9.40
3
9.00
3
Likeability 3.55
1
4.00
2
3.38
1
3.80
2
4.24
2
4.46
2
3.67
1
4.22
2
Shareability 3.45
1
5.00
2
4.31
2
3.80
2
4.43
2
4.00
1
3.80
1
4.11
2
Dependent variable
Int. to like 6.21
1
6.00
1
6.69
2
8.00
3
9.14
4
7.50
3
7.00
2
8.33
3
Note: R = Relevance (low vs. high), I = Iconicity (low vs. high), H = Humor (1. dark vs. 2. self‐depreciating vs. 3. amusing), S =Spreadability (low vs. high).
Significantly different Means are indicated with different superscripts, p< .05.
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TABLE 6 Factor loadings, validity, and reliability estimates
Variable (variance) Item Factor loading X

σAVE, CR α
Escapism (Dhir et al., 2020;
Lee & Ma, 2012)
I watch memes to escape from
the routine.
0.78 4.99 1.45 0.54, 0.86 0.81
I watch memes to take a break
from something I should be
doing.
0.77 5.37 1.31
Watching memes is a time pass
activity for me.
0.69 4.99 1.54
Watching memes helps me
combat boredom.
0.70 5.10 1.45
Social gratification
(Dhir et al., 2020;
Lee & Ma, 2012)
Memes help me to connect with
others.
0.71 4.80 1.62 0.50, 0.80 0.79
Memes helps me to share my
own likes with my friends.
0.66 4.50 1.48
Sharing memes helps me share
happiness with others.
0.78 4.90 1.45
Sharing memes is an excellent
way to exchange ideas with
others.
0.68 4.67 1.63
Content gratification
6.69%
(Dhir et al., 2020;
Lee & Ma, 2012)
I watch memes to stay updated
on topical issues.
0.66 4.23 1.85 0.54, 0.77 0.71
Memes are a good source of
information.
0.71 4.72 1.48
Watching memes helps me learn
about the latest news.
0.81 4.80 1.62
Seeding I like memes that are timely. 0.56 5.85 1.28 0.62, 0.76 0.76
11.06% I share memes that are liked by
me friends.
0.97 4.24 1.57
Qualitative study
Distribution
8.98%
Qualitative study
I follow meme pages for
watching latest memes.
0.76 4.94 1.80 0.56, 0.72 0.75
I like memes that are liked by my
favorite influencers.
0.74 4.32 1.70
TABLE 7 Model fit indices
The goodness of fit measures
Recommended
value
Structural
model
Measurement
model
Chi‐square/degree of freedom ≤3.00 1.07 1.73
Goodness‐of‐fit (GFI) ≥0.90 0.98 0.96
Adjusted goodness‐of‐fit (AGFI) ≥0.80 0.97 0.94
Normalized fit index (NFI) ≥0.90 0.95 0.94
Comparative fit index (CFI) ≥0.90 0.99 0.97
Root mean square error of
approximation (RMSEA)
≤0.10 0.01 0.04
Tucker–Lewis fit index (TLI) ≥0.90 0.99 0.96
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6.2.2 |Moderation
We tested the moderation effects of gender and generation (GenZ,
millennials and GenX) on intention to like. We measured the moderation
effect using Hayes' PROCESS macro (Hayes, 2015). Using 5000
bootstrap samples to assess the moderation effects, we observed that
gender significantly moderated the association between content gratifi-
cation and intention to like (β= .12, p< .05, CI [0.078–0.553]), social
gratification and intention to like (β= 0.34, p<0.05,CI[0.05–0.618]) and
seeding and intention to like (β=0.32, p< 0.05, CI [0.05–0.593]).
Meanwhile, generation only moderated between social gratification and
intention to like (β=0.17, p< 0.05, CI [0.005–0.345]).
6.2.3 |Discussions
Study 2 offers empirical evidence of customer‐related factors
(H2a–H2c) and media‐related factors (H3a–H3b) on the virality of
memes. Furthermore, this study provides support for the moderating
variables proposed in Proposition 5. We next tested the impact of viral
memes on the proposed consequences of viral memes in Study 3.
6.3 |Study 3a
To validate H4a, we adopted the “Shweta your mic is on”template to
determine if meme‐based advertising generates virality for an online
post. The #shweta began trending on February 19, 2021 when a girl
named Shweta left her microphone on during a Zoom meeting and
began speaking to someone over the phone. The phone conversation
was meant to be private, and its content was intimate. Hence, others
on the Zoom call attempted to alert her that ‘Shweta your mic is on’,
which later began trending when someone posted the Zoom
recording on social media platforms. Immediately various brands
seized the opportunity to engage with their target audiences. Hence,
we used this meme as context for validating our hypothesis. We
selected 15 brands that leveraged the #Shweta meme, and their
memes went viral. To measure the impact of viral memes on
customer engagement, we collected data on the 15 selected brands
for 12 h from their Instagram posts. We measured engagement as the
number of likes and comments. For comparison, we collected similar
metrics for non‐meme‐based posts shared by the same 15 brands
after the meme‐based posts. Again, we collected data for 12 h.
6.3.1 |Study design and analysis
We first compared the mean of engagement for meme‐based
posts (M
meme
= 2469.20, SD = 627.99) and non‐meme‐based posts
(M
non‐meme
= 1561, SD = 826.92). We tested Hypothesis 4 using the
“general linear model”(GLM), observing that meme‐based posts had
significantly greater engagement than did nonmeme‐based posts
(β= 908, p<0.01; Table 8). Overall, we found the model fit and
effect size to be significant. Further, we tested the assumption of
linearity, normality of residuals, homogeneity, and equality of
residual variance.
FIGURE 5 Customer‐related and media‐
related factors.
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6.3.2 |Discussion
Utilizing empirical data from 15 brands and comparing their posts, we
provide strong evidence for the advantages of meme‐based
advertising, finding that viral memes generate higher engagement
than do non‐meme‐based advertising campaigns. Next, we examined
the impact of viral memes on brand performance, i.e. brand recall and
brand awareness.
6.4 |Study 3b
We conducted a brand recall study by selecting five brands from
different categories. Next, we collected 25 memes for the five
brands and asked a panel of seven experts to rate the selected
memes for content‐related, consumer‐related and media‐related
factors on a scale of low, medium, and high. Further, we randomly
selected five memes from the pool of 25 and conducted a brand
recall survey. Respondents were asked if they recalled the meme
and were asked to guess the brand name. One hundred twenty‐
seven respondents participated in the brand recall study. Accord-
ing to the results, memes with the highest brand recall rates also
scored high on all antecedents of virality. We also observed that
the virality rank of the meme with the highest recall was also the
highest (Table 9).
7|DISCUSSION
After AT&T released the first clickable banner advertisement in 1994,
the share of digital advertising was expected to grow by over a 20%
compounded average (Beattie, 2020). However, consumers are
increasingly averse to digital advertising as evidenced in the
continuous decline in the average CTR. Thus, digital advertising
currently generates extremely low engagement (Borah et al., 2020).
In this context where consumers are eschewing branded content, the
current study about meme advertising offers novel contributions to
theory and practice in digital advertising. The study assumes that viral
memes—as a medium for digital advertising—can increase any firm's
brand recall and customer engagement. The implications of this study
are profound and offer wide‐ranging insights for designing meme
content, understanding end users' needs, and selecting appropriate
media strategies. The current study proposes a conceptual frame-
work for meme‐based advertising, which begins by identifying three
antecedents of viral memes, that is, “content‐related factors,”
“customer‐related factors,”and “media‐related factors.”Next, we
identify two outcomes of viral memes, that is, “brand recall”and
“brand engagement.”Finally, we identify two moderating factors, that
is, “brand guidelines”and “rewards.”In this section, we discuss the
implications of our research—first for theory and then for managerial
practice.
7.1 |Theoretical implications
The current research makes several theoretical contributions.
Despite the growing importance of memes in marketing, no prior
research has offered a comprehensive conceptualization of memes in
the context of marketing and advertising. In this study, we
conceptualize and define viral memes using three underlying
dimensions of virality, that is, contraction,transmission, and exposure.
Adopting a grounded theory approach, this study provides a
comprehensive framework for creating viral memes. We suggest
various content‐related, customer‐related, and media‐related factors
as antecedents of viral memes, and we argue that the relationships
between these antecedents and meme virality are moderated by
brand guidelines. Furthermore, we identify brand recall and engage-
ment as two important outcomes of viral meme marketing campaigns,
which are moderated by the associated rewards. The study's findings
thus contribute to our currently limited understanding of meme
marketing phenomenon and provide a foundation for future research
on memes.
TABLE 8 Effect of viral memes on engagement
Variables →
Likes Comments
Meme‐based Non‐meme based Meme‐based Non‐meme based
Mean 2469.2 1561 25.93 9.33
SD 627.99 826.92 14.05 10.61
R square (effect size) 0.265 0.298
Overall test of significance F11.470** 13.33***
Intercept (SE) 1561.2*** (189.58) 9.33** (3.22)
β(SE) 908** (268.10) 16.60*** (4.55)
Levene's Test Of Equality p> 0.05 p> 0.05
Homogeneity Yes Yes
**p< 0.01;
***p< 0.001.
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The identification of three types of underlying factors—that is,
content‐related factors, customer‐related factors, and media‐related
factors—advances our understanding of schema theory, contagion
theory, and U&GT while also constructing a new theory about the
virality of meme‐based marketing campaigns. In particular, theorizing
the role of humor, relevance, iconicity, and spreadability in generating
virality is among this study's significant theoretical contributions. We
argue that meme‐based marketing campaigns are likely to exhibit
higher virality when they contain the appropriate type and style of
humor and are relevant, iconic, and easily spreadable. We further
argue that all content‐related factors must be employed concurrently
to generate greater virality. Our findings align with the current
literature on humor, which reports that humor is effective only when
it is properly timed and unanticipated (Attardo & Pickering, 2011;
Borah et al., 2020; Eisend, 2022; Wyer & Collins, 1992).
Next, we extend U&GT by theorizing the role of escapism, social
gratification, and content gratification in meme virality. We argue
that social media users are more likely to share memes than other
TABLE 9 Memes: Antecedent scores,
virality ranking, and brand recall Meme Score on antecedents
Virality
rank
Brand
recall %
Content‐related factors: Medium
Customer‐related factors:
MediumMedia‐related
factors: Low
Third 6.5%
Content‐related factors: High
Customer‐related factors:
Medium
Media‐related factors: Medium
Second 16.92%
Content‐related factors: Medium
Customer‐related factors:
Medium
Media‐related factors: Medium
Fourth 7.6%
Content‐related factors: High
Customer‐related factors: High
Media‐related factors: High
First 23.08%
Content‐related factors: Low
Customer‐related factors: Low
Media‐related factors: Low
Fifth 1.05%
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types of content to signal to others that they are cognizant of
contemporary trends. Because memes help social media users
connect with friends and satisfy various gratification needs, firms
can leverage this phenomenon to reach beyond firms' own social
networks. Hence, this study offers interesting contributions to
social network theory by discussing innovative ways to expand firms'
social networks. Additionally, our findings regarding the impact of
media‐related factors on meme virality also advance our under-
standing of seeding and distribution strategies. According to our
findings, effective seeding is a function of release timing, media
choice, the initial target audience, and referrals. Similarly, a meme‐
based marketing campaign can become viral if the distribution
strategy identifies the appropriate mix of influencers and meme lords
and improvises marketing messages using trending meme templates.
7.2 |Managerial implications
The current research has critical implications for practitioners,
including brand managers, influencers, meme designers, and media
managers. Research has shown that firms preplan and tightly control
conventional digital marketing campaigns (Borah et al., 2020).
However, consumers tend to ignore and feel disconnected from
campaigns that are tightly controlled by brands, which reduces
customer engagement. Viral memes, on the other hand, are topical
and highly relatable and are thus well received by the target groups,
which increases customer engagement and brand recall.
Our study, therefore, offers a blueprint for marketers and brand
managers working to create meme‐based marketing campaigns. The
content‐related factors discussed in our theoretical framework can help
marketers select meme templates that are capable of going viral.
Meanwhile, meme creators, who are positioned at the beginning of the
meme chain, can utilize the findings of our study to design memes that
consumers find relevant, iconic, humorous, and spreadable. Further, our
results highlight measures of relevance, iconicity, humor, and spread-
ability. Practitioners can employ these measures to evaluate memes and
predict the success of meme marketing campaigns.
The customer‐related factors discussed in our framework are
another unique contribution of our research. A deeper understanding
of these factors can help marketers increase the consumption of
memes by various customer segments. Meme campaigns designed to
enhance escapism, social gratification, and content gratification can
help marketers organically increase their reach within their target
segments and enhance brand performance in terms of brand recall
and brand engagement. Similarly, knowledge of media‐related factors
can inform efforts to effectively seed and distribute memes. Because
meme advertising is a relatively new phenomenon, brand managers in
traditional and legacy brands often lack a deeper understanding of it.
These brand managers can thus employ the proposed theoretical
framework as a quick guide for creating relevant, iconic, humorous,
and easily spreadable memes.
The conventional wisdom suggests that memes are most suitable
for new and digitally native brands. However, our in‐depth interviews
reveal that memes are equally suitable for legacy brands. The
majority of mainstream brands have yet to leverage the potential of
memes in their digital marketing campaigns. The findings of this study
encourage brand managers from all sectors to keep a close watch on
trending memetic content and leverage this viral phenomenon to
create meme‐based marketing content. Our findings indicate that
viral memes that rate higher on the proposed dimensions generate
higher brand recall and customer engagement. All stakeholders must
thus consider memes as a component of their digital marketing
campaigns, proactively identify effective meme templates and
evaluate them by creating a matrix of the proposed dimensions.
7.3 |Limitations and future research directions
While this study provides a comprehensive theoretical framework for
designing meme marketing campaigns, it nevertheless has several
limitations. In this section, we identify these limitations and reflect on
directions for future research. First, we tested the antecedents and
outcomes of our theoretical framework via a quantitative study;
however, scholars should also validate the moderating variables using
quantitative studies. Second, although our study is helpful for
marketers working to design and launch meme marketing campaigns,
these practitioners still must identify whether an event is meme‐
worthy or not. Future research might, therefore, build models to
predict the suitability of the meme virality framework for various
types of events. Third, while our findings suggest brand recall
and brand engagement as outcomes of meme virality, we invite
future scholars to examine the impact of meme virality on firm
performance in terms of firm value. Indeed, a viral meme campaign
may increase firm value. Finally, future research should attempt to
identify the environmental conditions in which meme marketing can
generate the most effective results.
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the
corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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How to cite this article: Malodia, S., Dhir, A., Bilgihan, A.,
Sinha, P., & Tikoo, T. (2022). Meme marketing: How marketers
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https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21702
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APPENDIX A
(Figure A1)
FIGURE A1 Experimental conditions (Study 1).
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