Funny internet content has evolved from the niche in-jokes that were all the rage on websites in the 2000s, to a ubiquitous meme-based digital communication system that blends pop-culture references with user-generated content to convey universally recognizable ideas, concepts or feelings. It’s a language that’s used and understood by consumers of all ages. And because of that wholesale adoption, it’s rich with brand promotion opportunities.

So it’s no surprise that major entertainment studios have embraced memes for their cultural relevance and ability to attract audiences—from simple tactics like Netflix retweeting fandom in-jokes, to the giant-scale Barbenheimer double-bill phenomenon that originated with women on social media, and everything in between. But really, the watershed moment came when a fan-created #gentleminions meme lifted ticket sales for CG-animated kids feature Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022) to US$940 million worldwide—thanks to suit-wearing teenagers attending screenings like they were formal events—demonstrating the power of meme culture to turn a normal movie run into a global brand movement. And kids IP owners of all shapes and sizes have been trying to recreate that magic since, using memes and viral content ranging from accessible GIFs to TikTok trends to attract younger viewers and convert short, catchy content into meaningful, lasting impressions.

Strategic comedy
Media consultant and Disney/BBC alum Jo Redfern, who specializes in digital strategy, says audience-transformed content and interpretations are key to larger franchise development plans. “Meme culture can be part of the flywheel, ideally driving interest back to core content and providing real-time insights into what resonates,” she says, noting that memes also invite kids into the content as co-creators of the story. “That’s the kind of authentic engagement that traditional marketing no longer achieves.” As #gentleminions demonstrated so well, another potential advantage is the opportunity to reel in older or non-targeted audiences. Nearly 75% of 15- to 43-year-olds say they’ve opted to watch a film after seeing memes/viral content about it, according to an August 2024 poll of 1,600 US consumers conducted by UTA IQ.

Memes can also drive fresh and consistent engagement to extend a show’s relevance. With Pingu (pictured), for example, Mattel has been closely tracking how this brand, based on an ’90s stop-motion series, has maintained a market presence (despite ending in the 2000s) through viral internet memes with funny fan-generated captions and out-of-context moments—for example, a clip of a sobbing Pingu with the caption, “Me when my bestie doesn’t come to school.” Pingu generates 100,000 monthly social mentions on average, according to Brandwatch data. And Mattel plans to actively leverage this existing buzz when it gears up to release an upcoming series that’s in development with Aardman Animations.

“Pingu’s virality is at the heart of our franchise strategy,” says Aimee London, Mattel’s VP of global franchise marketing. “We’re exploring ways to amplify this through digital-first content, social media engagement and strategic creator collaborations.”

Though they may cause some teens to roll their eyes, GIFs are still integral to how people of all ages communicate online. And that makes these playful mini-clips powerful viral marketing tools. “When a kid drops a SpongeBob reaction GIF in their group chat or shares a Molang moment with friends, they’re not just communicating—they’re advocating for the show without even realiz- ing it,” says Redfern. GIFs are also the bread and butter of GIPHY, which provides 1.7 billion daily users with a GIF-based search engine on major platforms including WhatsApp, iMessage and Slack. As it turns out, kids and animated brands tend to shine here—when GIPHY ranked its top GIFs of 2023, an animation of Mo Willems’ Elephant and Piggie characters doing a “happy dance” claimed the number- one spot, with 1.8 billion views.

GIF it up
But GIPHY editor-in-chief Tyler Menzel says the platform is somewhat underused by the kids industry as a brand-building strategy— especially when it comes to reaching the grown-ups in kids’ lives, since 53% of GIPHY users are shopping on behalf of children, according to internal research. While one quick (and free) option is to create GIFs from existing video content using GIPHY’s on-board tools, Menzel is eager to work with kids brands to develop more exclusive GIPHY content. “We know what people are searching for. And using insights we’ve learned over 10-plus years, we can help customize this content to [maximize outreach],” says Menzel. One recent example was a Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 GIPHY campaign that ran in October, featuring custom GIFs of the game’s characters re-enacting well-known memes (including Homer Simpson backing into a bush).

There are a number of ways brand owners can turn this type of engagement into awareness and/or viewership, says Menzel, including strategically placing a watermark on the image or attaching a YouTube link to the episode a GIF was pulled from—an approach Mattel has used for Pingu. According to GIPHY’s internal research, 73% of GIF users actively search for a new GIF to use every time, providing a breeding ground for introducing new brands.

In 2022, South Korea’s MOSTAPES uploaded a batch of GIFs with playful animations from Dinosally, a new 2D-animated preschool series it was developing. These colorful toon clips overlaid with greetings like “Happy Friday!” or “Good morning!” took off fast, exceeding 30 billion collective views on GIPHY. And this demonstration of character appeal helped attract co-pro partners PGS Entertainment and Aurora World to the project.

“Visually, as we monitored reactions through traffc on GIPHY, we realized that people respond strongly to two things—a rhythmic loop and comedic twists,” says MOSTAPES founder Jay Kim. And given the current financing climate for kids TV, the team is exploring other digital formats for Dinosally that can build from its established GIF success. Going forward, Kim says MOSTAPES will continue to tease and test its new IPs on GIPHY—characters from its latest concept Mikitti, about a crew of pirate cats, have picked up three billion views so far since rolling out on GIPHY in August.

Reflecting the zeitgeist
Going beyond GIFs, Mo Willems’ publishing brand revamped its social media playbook last year, with Hidden Pigeon Company franchise management SVP Tori Cook guiding the journey into modern meme culture. “A meme is someone’s witty, clever interpretation of a very animated expression—and the Pigeon and [Willems’] properties have certainly been built off of that,” notes Cook, underlining how memes can add cross-generational appeal to an IP by creating something—in this case, laugh-out-loud content—that helps foster a connection between different groups, such as Gen Alpha kids and their Millennial and Gen-Z parents.

For example, Cook references an Elephant and Piggie TikTok that mashed up a trending audio clip from reality series Keeping Up With The Kardashians (Kourtney saying, “It’s just not cool that you copy me”) with images of Piggie looking insecure around other characters in pig costumes. To speed up social content creation for today’s fast-moving digital landscape, the team used a Pigeon puppet (which Jim Henson’s Creature Shop created for an existing YouTube series called The Pigeon Explains!) to film funny live-action videos, instead of relying purely on animation.

The style of humor for the short videos stayed close to the IP—Pigeon’s hyperactive and stubborn personality channels into relatable memes about struggling to get through a school week, for example, while his penchant for breaking the fourth wall is perfect for TikTok videos in which he speaks to the viewer directly. Building multi-generational appeal means referencing pop-culture memes in a timely way. So, at the same time that Paramount released its Mean Girls reboot in January 2024, the HPC team dropped a TikTok video showing Pigeon aggressively competing to be Regina George; it quickly racked up 2.7 million plays. But there’s a delicate balance when it comes to choosing which trend waves to ride, says Cook. For a kids IP, content needs to be funny but family-friendly, and quirky but never unkind.

“HPC exercises caution, especially for a character like the Pigeon, who is depicted to love the attention and be in tune with the latest internet trends generating big laughs,” she says. “We’re mindful that he never pokes fun at something or someone, which often happens in meme culture.” This meme strategy has helped spawn an impressive 6.8% engagement rate for Mo Willems Workshop on TikTok, compared to the industry average of 3% to 5%. And engagement outweighs views on this platform because it strengthens fandom-building and creates a “feedback loop” for HPC, notes Cook.

The social account frequently interacts with commenters, trading funny quips with fans and fielding questions about upcoming books and plush/puppets. Fostering this kind of engagement ultimately helps offset some of the broader concerns about meme-fueled marketing—such as whether the corporatization of memes could eventually turn fans off. But smaller brand owners may actually have an advantage on this front, given that major studios are more likely to miss the mark of speaking the language of internet culture in their need to engage as broadly as possible, says Redfern. “Indie studios can be more genuine and less corporate in their approach, so they may win on authenticity and agility if they have the right team. Often, they can also respond faster to trends without lengthy approvals, if empowered to do so.”

This story originally appeared in Kidscreen’s Q1 2025 magazine issue.