Watching brands fail at Twitter has become cliché at this point. And just when you think they've gotten the idea, it's fail whale all over again.
Still, they keep trying.
Earlier this week, a fun meme spread through Twitter starring a cute ASCII bunny holding a sign. If you were on Twitter that day, you couldn't miss it. If not, a few explainers will bring you up to speed.
Amber Gordon, a creative strategist at Tumblr and former community manager at Denny's, is credited with starting the meme and has since seen it go viral.
@_Cooper |￣￣￣￣￣ ￣| | GURL | | PLEASE | | | | ＿＿＿＿＿_ | (\__/) || (•ㅅ•) || / づ
— Amber (@missambear) September 16, 2014Of course, brands—ever vigilant to real-time trends online nowadays, quickly noticed. And many of them whipped up little corporate bunnies of their own, brandishing pithy little branded signs.
We spoke with Gordon about the phenomenon and what it was like watching big brands attach themselves to a meme in real-time. And she also has some advice to the community managers of the big brands, too.
How does it feel to see big brands joining in the fun?
Seeing brands use these types of silly Internet trends is so exciting. Using a native language that's become relevant to your audience is exactly what more brands should be doing, but in an authentic way. Meaning, research it before you post! (knowyourmeme.com is a great resource.)
Will it break the Internet if @Energizer does one?
If Energizer does one, I might cry tears of joy.
Does it feel weird that the bunny signs have now basically become little billboards for corporations?
I love them. Twitter itself is just words, and ASCII art makes them visually interesting. Honestly I think a message has a stronger impact (for me personally) when you can associate an image with it. That's why Tumblr is so great, because you can do all of that there!
Below, check out nine brands that have given the sign bunny meme a shot:
|￣￣￣￣￣￣￣| | ORANGE | | CARROT | | JUICE | | FTW | | ＿＿＿＿＿＿_ | (\__/) || (•ㅅ•) || / づ
— Naked Juice (@nakedjuice) September 18, 2014 |￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣| | I'm here | | for the cookies! | | ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿| (\__/) || (•ㅅ•) || / づ
— Oreo Cookie (@Oreo) September 17, 2014 |￣￣￣￣￣ ￣| | DENNY'S | | IS LOVE, | | LIFE | | ＿＿＿＿＿_ | (\__/) || (•ㅅ•) || / づ
— Denny's (@DennysDiner) September 16, 2014#Whoops |￣￣￣￣￣￣￣| | LOST | | MY | | PHONE | | ＿＿＿＿＿___| (\__/) || (•ㅅ•) || / づ
— AT&T (@ATT) September 16, 2014 |￣￣￣ ￣￣ | | BUY | | ME | | PIZZA | | ＿＿＿＿＿_| (\__/) || (•ㅅ•) || / づ
— Pizza Hut (@pizzahut) September 16, 2014 .@totinos |￣￣￣￣￣ ￣| | PIZZA | | AND | | HUMMUS! | |____________| (\__/) || (•ㅅ•) || / づ
— Tribe Hummus (@TribeHummus) September 16, 2014 |￣￣￣￣￣ ￣| | get off | | the sidewalk | | (please) | | ＿＿＿＿＿_ | (\__/) || (•ㅅ•) || / づ
— Citi Bike (@CitibikeNYC) September 18, 2014 |￣￣￣￣ ￣ ￣| | WEAR | | YOUR | | OWN | | SKIN | | ＿＿＿＿ ＿__| (\__/) || (•ㅅ•) || / づ
— PETA (@peta) September 18, 2014@ariavettraino |￣￣￣￣￣ | | k! | | | | | | ＿＿＿＿__| (\__/) || (•ㅅ•) || / づ
— Pumpkin Spice Latte (@TheRealPSL) September 17, 2014