Memes, Marketing, and Me

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 19:07:44 GMT

I've been taking this class on software product management run out of the UW Extension program. It's been interesting, definitely a mixed bag, and on the whole worthwhile. I've been getting out of it what I've been willing/able to put into it, which has above all been an "above all" view of the discipline (which is really a multidiscipline), its norms and variants, methods and theory.

On the "Meme" Meme

For class yesterday on the list of required reading was the Wikipedia article on memes. Now, I've heard the term "meme" bandied about from time to time in Microsoft's hallways, and it's always struck me as one of those suspect terms, loaded with pretense but short on clarity. After reading the Wikipedia article, which does a decent if long-winded job at explaining the origin, usage, and criticism of the "meme" meme, I came away thinking, "Good Lord, what a pile of <insert appropriate term here>!" In fact, I made a little joke and said to Adriane, one of my classmates, "You know what? I think I'm going to start a new meme: 'memes are bullsh*t'." (Now where did that stray asterisk come from?)

I think what turns me off most about "memes" and "memetics" is that it leaves that same sort of taste in my mouth that I got when I was exposed back in grad school to modern literary criticism: lots of aren't-we-clever mental masturbation that seemed only to complicate and obscure what it pretended to illuminate and clarify. Add to that the pseudo-scientific and etymologically confused underpinnings of the "meme" discourse, and you're left standing there at the party with one foul-tasting cocktail in your hand. I'm sure plenty of people out there would take issue with my impressions of either lit crit or memetics, and they're free to do so--but hey, this is my blog and these are my opinions, perfect and unassailable (until proven otherwise).

Marketing Is as Marketing Memes

Let me get back to the software product management class I'm taking. So we were talking about "memes" and how it's the job of the product manager in his marcoms role to identify and communicate a "meme" for his product with the hope that the "meme" will catch on like a "mind virus" and get the product's message stuck in the heads of its target audience. This is a very narrow application of the "meme" meme, but you can more or less understand it as a convenient way of describing what happens with marketing messages that are able to build cultural cachet, like the winning "I'm a PC, I'm a Mac" campaign, or even personified in characters such as the Maytag repair man, or transmitted in annoying jingles like "Shine on, Shine on 409!" (sorry to have just put that heinous tune in your head; it's a case in point). The best messaging, we're told, is where where a product's tagline--or better still, brand--is a "meme." Think "Coke Adds Life" or the Expedia.com or Yahoo! jingles, for example.

It's All About Me(me)

One of the reasons I'm taking this class on software product management is so I can better understand the concepts and tools of the trade for (hopefully) immediate application in my current job as a product manager for the Microsoft.community team. As you may know from some of my previous posts, we're working on a new set of services to support Microsoft online communities, one instance of which is the social bookmarking/tagging application we call "Tagspace." As it turns out, there's a happy coincidence of class subject matter and what I'm focusing on at work. I have recently taken on the role of a "marketing communications manager" (or somesuchthing) to support the release of our new services. I've been working mostly on getting our messaging and core content together for our Web site and for other internal and external media, and, naturally, this "meme" meme has got me thinking more about the messages we are preparing and how effective they may or may not be.

Whether or not you buy into the whole notion of "memes," I think there is something to be said for the idea that if you want to be successful with a product, messaging is of prime importance. Our instructor, Dave Sampson from MixMeister Technologies, indicated that "a mediocre product with a fantastic message will often sell better than the reverse" (but of course we should try to achieve both: a fantastic product supported by a fantastic message).

While I think I understand the marketer's need--if not professional obligation--to do his/her utmost to sell, sell, sell, I'd like to think we're working in a different space here, and accordingly that we should probably try to do something different than run-of-the-mill marketing. Not everything needs to be structured as rigorously on-message, all the time, directed like a laser from the inside-out, in the effort to spark public interest and create a lasting "meme-pression." While we will certainly have our messages to convey, our hope is that over time we can make this less about what we think works or what we think is important, and more about what the community needs and wants, and provide them with the means to express that. This includes the messages we use to communicate the value of our offering: if it doesn't work for you, just say so, and suggest something different. Just as we want to make you partners in the creation of online community tools and experiences that make sense to you, we also want to enlist you as active participants in the creation and dissemination of the information we need as a community to understand their value and make the most of them.

I think the point I'm driving at is this: "memes" generally and marketing messages specifically don't just have to be what's foisted on you by marketers or out of the amorphous cloud of culture around you, they can also in a very real way belong to you, can be shaped by you, and can be made to serve your needs. I hope this blog post has shown that even the "meme" meme can be co-opted and used to serve more personal (communication) needs.

- dave

o brave new world: marketing

Memes, Marketing, and Me

On the "Meme" Meme

Marketing Is as Marketing Memes

It's All About Me(me)