Mumbo Report: Julian Cole on memes, Vegemite and keyboard cat and Mark Buckman calls for a return to “gut” decisions
In today’s Mumbo Report:
- Julian Cole of The Population on memes, keyboard cat, lolcats, Hitler’s iSnack 2.0 rant, “super powered geeks” and that Facebook tattoo;
- CommBank’s Mark Buckman on moving the industry back to “guts and gut” decisions;
- The Sack’s Ben Birchall on his worst ever day
- CRC’s Dejan Rasic on the rise of online
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Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Good interview. Why? I learned stuff I didn’t know. And he had a nice T shirt.
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Great report Tim. You’re on a real winner with the Mumbo Report.
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Just offering a slightly different opinion on the definition of a Meme. There is no rule that a meme has to be a mashup. Fair play to Julian for trying to make it simpler, but a mashup is not always meme, a meme is viral, a viral is not always a mashup, and a meme is not always a mashup (see the link below to a history of internet memes).
Wikipedia explains memes quite well (IMO): “A meme is a postulated unit or element of cultural ideas, symbols or practices, and is transmitted from one mind to another through speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena” / “An Internet meme may stay the same or may evolve over time”
Couple of links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme
http://www.dipity.com/tatercakes/Internet_Memes
Sorry to make it harder for everyone, but in my opinion there are many shades of grey here. Which is probably why it’s such an interesting subject matter. That said, keep up the good work Julian – you’re a good ambassador 🙂
– @eunmac
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A good point well made there Iain, let’s not simplify language down simply because people are struggling to understand it.
Knowing what a meme is, how and why it works, and why it’s actually got bugger all to do with the internet is a terribly important element of anyone working in the advertising/marketing area these days.
Richard Dawkins would be rolling in his grave (if he was dead (and if he believed in posthumous animation)).
Oh and another great episode Tim. 🙂
-Nic.
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Why isn’t Mark Coad featured today? This is bogus
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Best report yet. I don’t think it matters in the slightest Julian painted slightly broad strokes on the subject of Memes…
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Parts of this thread slightly remind me of the scene in The Office where Gareth tries to talk about Bruce Lee films with the IT guy…
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Just out of curiosity: what does The Population actually do/have done?
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@Pete Zerhut – that is one of the best scenes in the office.
“You know Bruce Lee’s not really dead don’t you? Yeah it’s in a book – what he did was he faked his own death so that he could work undercover for the Hong Kong police infiltrating drugs gangs and The Triads”
that T-shirt is tight Julian!
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Sorry, I have to agree with Iam. That isn’t the definition of a Meme. But fair point for trying to explain a meme, that just wan’t it. A meme can exist without the internet.
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Apologies for my fat fingers. That was meant to say I agree with @eunmac
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hmmmm.
I think it was a useful interview and admire Julian for his passion and intellect.
I have a real question around how big is this issue. This feels like a very interesting discussion relevant to the people at getup but for a media journal this feels niche.
The majority of Australians consuming media are not social media fans, they are older.
This is important stuff and I enjoyed Julian’s honesty.
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The best (and funniest) explanation of internet memes I have ever seen is on the YouTube channel Rocketboom (home of the Rocketboom institute for internet science). They have a know your meme series that is pretty spot on in terms of origins and spread of all the funniest memes of the last couple of years…
https://www.youtube.com/user/ROCKETBOOM#play/user/DF47A3D566CBDE16/12/NEMllEwHYmM
Enjoyed the vid, great stuff.
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Hmm.. I expected a bit of insight around ‘why’ from Julian re: memes, and less ‘what’.
Memes have been around for a long time, discussion for marketers would be more valuable if it included why the increased frequency and popularity of them, and why people feel the need to leave their mark on them (the remixing) more now than in the past (i.e. the email forward).
Just some constructive criticism, I know it’s hard to think on the spot when the light is on you.
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No Mark Coad? You mean there are other agencies out there?
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