meme_response_time v1.0.0

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 <days-since-first-seen> 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.