In the digital age, where attention spans are shorter than ever, brands are turning to popular internet phenomena to create immediate connections with audiences. Cats, with their enigmatic expressions and playful demeanour, have become unlikely marketing icons, playing a significant role in moment marketing campaigns across platforms. This phenomenon leverages the instant recognisability and appeal of cat memes to inject humour, relatability, and personality into brand messaging.
The Rise of the Cat Meme
Cat memes first rose to prominence over a decade ago, evolving from funny images shared among internet users to cultural symbols. Classic examples, such as ‘Grumpy Cat,’ ‘Nyan Cat,’ and ‘Keyboard Cat,’ demonstrated the universal appeal of feline humour. Brands quickly realised the potential of these instantly recognisable symbols, and today, cat-themed content is a reliable way for brands to engage their audience and cut through digital noise. This trend taps into the popularity of cats as low-key, relatable figures, enabling brands to add a light-hearted touch to their campaigns without overtly commercialising their message.
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The rise of cat memes has fostered a thriving ‘meme economy,’ where creators monetise their content through sponsored collaborations and merchandise sales. Brands now partner with meme creators to weave products into relatable cat-themed memes, boosting exposure while creators earn income. Additionally, merchandise like t-shirts, mugs, and plush toys featuring popular cat memes has become a lucrative avenue, enabling creators to profit while allowing fans to showcase their love for feline humour.
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Cat campaigns
Several brands have successfully incorporated cats into their advertising campaigns, leveraging their widespread appeal and relatable antics. For example, Whiskas has long featured playful and endearing cats in its campaigns, focusing on the bond between cats and their owners. While the brand itself caters to prospective consumers with pets, brands from other categories have tried their hands at bringing cats into their communication strategies. While the brand primarily targets consumers with pets, other categories have also incorporated cats into their marketing strategies to engage audiences.
KFC embraced feline charm in a humorous campaign featuring cats climbing the ‘Colonel Sanders cat climber,’ adding a fun twist to its branding. Bisleri, an Indian brand, also tapped into the charm of cats, using them in creative campaigns to connect with consumers through relatable humour and appeal.
Additionally, the ‘Cat Herders’ ad by Electronic Data Systems (EDS), created by Fallon in 2000, remains one of the most iconic Super Bowl commercials. Using the metaphor of ‘herding cats’, a phrase symbolising the difficulty of managing chaos, the ad cleverly illustrated EDS’s ability to handle complex business problems. This commercial remains a standout example of creative and humorous corporate messaging.
Cats in moment marketing
A quick look on Instagram reveals that the ‘cat’ category boasts over 300 million posts, a testament to the growing popularity of feline-related content. In moment marketing, brands tap into trending topics and events, and cat memes have become a key tool for such campaigns. This strategy not only boosts engagement and shares but also creates a strong, emotive connection, anchoring the brand to a lighthearted, humorous experience that leaves a lasting impression.
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Brands across industries, from food delivery apps to clothing retailers, deploy cat memes to reach a broad spectrum of users. The meme format allows for flexibility, adapting to any theme, from the cat’s well-known disdain for human behaviour to its quirks and playful acts. This versatility makes cats a powerful tool for capturing sentiment and creating instant connections with audiences.
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The power of relatability and reach
The success of cats in moment marketing largely hinges on relatability. Cats are known for their often unpredictable, quirky, and sometimes aloof personalities, qualities that resonate with a wide audience. Brands capitalise on these traits, using memes to reflect common human emotions, such as frustration, laziness, or contentment, often mirroring relatable consumer experiences.
For instance, Zepto’s cat memes effectively tap into two relatable scenarios that resonate with audiences, the common mishap of bringing the wrong items from the market, often leading to a scolding, and the increasingly rare occurrence of receiving birthday return gifts. By showcasing these familiar situations with a humorous twist, Zepto’s use of cat memes adds an extra layer of connection, drawing people in with both relatability and levity. This kind of moment marketing capitalises on shared experiences, making it easy for consumers to engage with the brand on a personal level.
Furthermore, cat memes provide an effective vehicle for sharing content, particularly on social media, where humorous, relatable material is more likely to be shared widely. This extends the reach of moment marketing campaigns far beyond the brand’s immediate audience, as viewers are more inclined to share lighthearted, humorous content with friends and family, further amplifying brand visibility. Like the ‘Happy Cat’ which went viral recently and is still quite popular, due to which it is used widely by brands.
In another move, Crumble, a popular Pakistani dessert brand, introduced Meowbaksh, a fictional cat character that has become a fan favourite. With a personality of his own, Meowbaksh regularly engages in witty, meme-filled text conversations with his ‘Janeman’, effortlessly blending Crumble’s desserts into trending topics. This playful and relatable character allows Crumble to engage with audiences in a fun, authentic way, making its promotions feel like a natural part of the digital conversation and it also helps when there exists a user base which is deeply in love with cats.
Other brands that have used cats for marketing
The enduring appeal of feline marketing
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As brands seek to develop more authentic connections with audiences, the use of cats in moment marketing has proven to be more than just a passing trend. This approach enables brands to humanise their messaging, leveraging universally loved symbols to reflect shared experiences. With cats continuing to dominate meme culture, brands are likely to keep tapping into feline charm to boost engagement, build relatability, and drive memorable marketing campaigns.
