by By Johan Jaimes
(LinkedIn)
The 2023-2024 NFL season has arguably been one of the most eventful in recent memory. A season filled with big moments and genius marketing. Huge storylines like the Detroit Lions winning their division for the first time have been at the forefront. Notably, the Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce romance has been all over social media too. With the NFL season coming to an end it is a good opportunity to highlight the success the league has seen when targeting younger audiences on social media — particularly with the use of memes.
The NFL along with other corporations have taken to humor on short-form content to boost its image and engagement. This has been put on full display this year with the content on the league’s official TikTok account and individual team accounts around the league. I’d like to take a deep dive into certain posts to showcase how humor, memes and viral content can positively boost an organization’s social media.
The Pro Bowl Rap Battle
Recently the NFL has been trying to promote its Pro Bowl event. In recent years, it has been a point of contention among fans and even players who debate whether the Pro Bowl should continue. To connect to younger audiences and capitalize on the humorous nature of the Manning brothers, the NFL collaborated with YouTube star and living meme Supa Hot Fire. Famous from an over 10-year-old meme, Supa Hot Fire shared the stage with Eli Manning as the two exchanged verses in a hilarious rap battle. The clip of Manning rapping about NFL legend Tom Brady has blown up with 2.3 million views in under 10 hours of being posted. The video has been reposted by countless other sports accounts, most notably ESPN.
The Lions Stellar Social Media Game
One of the best teams utilizing this new form of meme marketing is the Detroit Lions. The Lion’s TikTok account has 2.2 million followers and 44.9 million likes. One of the most popular videos was posted on January 22nd, the day following the Lion’s victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the divisional round of the playoffs. The video amassing over 5.7 million views and one million likes features Twitch streamer Jynxzi assuring viewers the Lions will lose the game. The video includes all kinds of memes mocking Jynxzi and the Buccaneers and is edited in a humorous, fast-paced style mimicking the meme formats of Gen Z and Alpha.
The Lions have also capitalized on the success of local comedian and die-hard Lions fan Tim Robinson. Robinson recognized for his Emmy-winning show “I Think You Should Leave” has been featured multiple times on the Lion’s social media. One video on the Lion’s TikTok features Robinson recreating his famous “Are you sure about that?” meme responding to a rival fan commenting “Lions are first-round exits for sure they’re frauds”. The video amassed over one million views.
Takeaways
The success of these posts has highlighted the need for humor in marketing on social media. Corporations should pay attention to how the NFL is exploiting trending memes to stay relevant and boost the reach of their content. This strategy helps organizations segment audiences and reach the future (next generation) of fans. The collaboration between the meme creators and other internet celebrities showcases the broad range organizations have when choosing influencers to work with. The biggest takeaway for organizations should be that creativity/humor are valued by younger audiences and finding unique ways to implement them will lead to success.
Hi Johan, I found your article on NFL marketing really interesting. I also agree that the humor has impacted the advertisement industry exponentially. I think that humor has been a really effective tool in advertising because it invokes an emotion within viewers that ties the commercial to that emotion which makes it that much more memorable. We will most likely see this trend to continue in the future because big names and companies understand that comedy can create not only a lasting affect but also is an easy gateway into nostalgia.
Hi Johan, I really enjoyed reading your article. I also find that humor is made so popular within the advertisement industry because it can touch so many different aspects of pop culture and is an easy way for the commercial to resonate with everyone. If a commercial can utilize humor well, it will leave a lasting impression as we tie that emotion to the commercial.