Mediameme

Having just seen Expelled: The Movie, the theory of biological evolution has been on my mind this week. Particularly as it relates to memes. Because I get asked the question constantly: what is mediameme? What does it mean?

The Theory of Biological Evolution states

• the basic unit of biological information is the gene
• the gene could store, duplicate and transmit data
• as well as mutate
• mutations can produce new or altered traits, leading to their spread across populations

The Theory of Cultural Evolution (aka Memetics) states

• the world is full of loose ideas
• ideas that propagate from one mind to the next in a Jungian way
• tunes, beliefs, trends, technology, art, etc.
• the basic unit of cultural information is known as a meme (rhymes with gene)
• groups of memes form together into memoplexes that form the basis of systems, beliefs, communities, societies
• conversation, syndication, feedback and groups facilitate the propagation of memes
• some say the internet is a giant meme-machine

Survival of the Fittest

some memes only have 15-minutes of fame

other memes, what I would term mediamemes reweave the fabric of our collective culture and potentially, the future of our race.

One of the questions posed to the panel last night was on the topic of social media ‘success’ stories or case studies. Just catching up on my RSS feeds and saw this amazing set of statistics on the Dove “Evolution” campaign presented by Shelley Lazarus at the Ogilvy Verge Conference <hat tip to catharine p. taylor for posting the stats>:

• 500 million views

• $150 million in media value

• $100 million in incremental sales.

• All for $50,000 in production costs

What underlies these numbers is perhaps the more important point every business needs to understand: social consciousness met social media through the brand message. It is a fundamentally different ‘advertising’ campaign. Every woman in America knew for decades that the models were airbrushed frauds. Yet the myth continued to be perpetuated by Madison Ave, the beauty industry and every magazine publisher right up until the start of this millennium.

Dove is the first major brand to promote natural and real beauty at any age as opposed to fake, impossible-to-achieve beauty. You cannot talk about Dove without “Evolution” being mentioned, which is why the approach is a brilliant strategic move. Dove’s competitors now must define themselves against Dove’s brand position (because they will be compared to Dove and this approach), rather than stake out their own claim.