--- name: "meme_response_time" description: "React to trending memes and cultural moments as a brand: judge the speed window where a response still lands, run format-fluency and brand-fit checks, and decide when sitting out is the stronger move. Triggers when a brand wants to join a meme, capitalize on a viral moment, or plan real-time social responses." metadata: { "includeInPrompt": true } --- # Meme Response Time ## Purpose Give a brand (or its agent) a repeatable decision process for reacting to trending memes and viral moments: spot the moment early, judge how fast to move, verify the meme's meaning before touching it, test it against the brand, and know when silence beats participation. ## Workflow ### 1. Spot the moment (monitor) A trend is worth evaluating when at least two of these are true: - It is appearing on multiple platforms, not just one. - Engagement is growing fast, with new variations appearing within hours. - Multiple communities or creators are adapting the same format independently. - It connects to a conversation your audience already cares about. Log the discovery time. The clock matters for everything that follows. ### 2. Locate the meme on the lifecycle curve Memes run a three-phase decay: **Hype (days 0-7**, peak engagement), **Saturation (days 7-30**, overuse dilutes the humor, backlash begins), **Legacy (30+ days**, dies or mutates into something new). Short-form video era memes often peak in under two weeks. Use `bin/meme-fit.py --phase-check ` to score the timing fit. Response windows: - **Breaking news moments** (not memes): 1-3 hours after the break is the ideal window; past 24 hours is stale. (David Meerman Scott, "Newsjacking," 2011) - **Meme formats / trends**: the window is 24-72 hours into the hype phase. Too early and the audience does not know the reference; too late and you look like a latecomer killing the joke. ### 3. Run the format-fluency check Before drafting anything, answer these from research (Know Your Meme, the originating community, news coverage of the meme), never from memory: - Where did this meme come from, and what was the original joke? - Has the format been co-opted into a meaning that changes what posting it says? (Wendy's posted a Pepe the Frog meme in 2017 without knowing the symbol's alt-right association, and had to delete and apologize.) - Does the format's humor rely on a punchline that conflicts with the brand's values? - Is the meme's peak audience the brand's audience, or a different subculture that will read the brand as an intruder? If any answer is uncertain, do not guess. Uncertain = no post. ### 4. Run the brand-fit test Score the opportunity with `bin/meme-fit.py` using the brand profile (voice, audience, taboos). The test asks: - **Voice fit**: does the brand already joke this way, or would this be a first? - **Product fit**: is there a real, non-forced connection to what the brand sells? - **Audience fit**: will the brand's existing audience enjoy this, or is it aimed at an audience the brand does not have? - **Reputation risk**: could this read as mocking, exploitative, or insensitive to anyone? A forced product mention on an unrelated moment is the classic failure mode. ### 5. Pre-commit the approval path The reason Oreo's "You can still dunk in the dark" landed in minutes is that the agency team sat next to the brand's decision-makers during the Super Bowl, and they had 18 months of practice behind them. Rapid response without a pre-agreed approval path is just rushing, and rushed content flops. Before any moment arrives: - Name one person (or role) who can greenlight a post in under 15 minutes. - Write standing veto rules (taboo topics, sensitive contexts) so they do not need debate mid-moment. - Pre-draft response templates for likely moment types (product-adjacent event, industry news, platform outage, holiday) and fill them in when the moment hits. The 2012 Obama campaign pre-made videos for every likely VP pick, then posted the Ryan one in seconds. ### 6. Sit out when it is the stronger move Sitting out is a decision, not a failure. Sit out when: - The moment involves tragedy, disaster, or suffering. Never meme off someone else's pain. - The brand's connection to the moment is forced. If you have to explain the angle, it is not there. - The meme is already in saturation. A brand arriving late reads as the punchline, not the teller. - The format's meaning is contested or uncertain. Oreo killed its planned Oscars real-time tweets when the night produced no real moment rather than force one. - The moment contradicts the brand's stated positions. ## Output Contract Every meme-response evaluation produces: 1. **The moment**: name, source URL, first-seen time, lifecycle phase. 2. **The verdict**: post, adapt-and-wait, or sit out, with the scored reasoning. 3. **If post**: draft copy in brand voice, format mock (text template, image/video brief), publishing checklist (approver name, taboo re-check, sentiment monitoring plan). 4. **If sit out**: one-line reason logged for the record, plus what would have made it a yes. ## Operating Rules - Never post a meme whose meaning you have not verified from a primary source. Memory of a meme is not verification. - Never rush past the veto rules for speed. Speed without the pre-committed approval path is gambling. - Never use a tragedy, death, disaster, or crisis as a promotional hook. - Never claim a response landed until engagement data confirms it. "The post went out" is not a win. - Log every decision (post or sit out) with the timestamp; the log is what makes the next evaluation faster. - A brand that does not already joke this way should not start with a high-visibility moment. Consistency beats one-off stunts.