A Brief History of Memes with Frances Leach

Frances Leach is a proud mum of two and creative director at VCCP, working on Cadbury and Keep Britain Tidy.

LBB> Who would you say is your creative hero? 

Frances> My creative hero isn’t a who, it’s a what.

Internet Memes.

Or as the dictionary describes them, ‘a way of describing cultural information being shared. An element of culture or system of behaviour that may be considered to be passed down from one individual to another by non-genetic means, especially imitation’.

Yep, It’s those images of moths, distracted boyfriends, Ryan Gosling - often with white copy on the top. I love ‘em.

LBB> How long have memes been important to you, and what are your first memories of meeting them or coming across their work?

Frances> In the last eight years, politics has gotten a little cray cray, and memes have really come into their own. Brexit, UK Prime Minister Musical chairs, Trump. We had a pandemic. Technology and climate change are accelerating at breakneck speed.

In these laugh-or-cry times, memes remind me to laugh. As surely as we breathe, or politicians continue to muck up, the memes keep coming.

Thank god. 

LBB> How has your relationship evolved over the years?

Frances> The smiley emoticon was the first meme. But things we’ve come a long way since then, baby. Rickrolling, Dancing Baby, Ryan Gosling eating cornflakes, Ryan Gosling Hey Girl (why are there so many Ryan Gosling memes?), Dramatic Prairie Dog, Harlem Shake, Socially Awkward Dolphin, Disaster Girl, Pointing Spidermen, Moth meme, How it started how it’s going, Distracted Boyfriend, Moo Deng and the Willy Wonka Immersive Experience, Gary Barlow’s large son.

Each narrating something unique to our human experience. 

One great meme always gets replaced by another. They are often frivolous and throw away, but over time I have come to see them as important too.

Some stats have shown that memes increased UK voter turnout in 2017 as they reached new, younger and a-political audiences. There is power in humour. It’s a modern day political cartoon, but we all get to comment and poke fun. Here at VCCP we describe ourselves as a ‘challenger agency for challenger brands’. These scrappy little memes are the ultimate piece of challenger content.

Even the non-political memes. The ones that just talk about everyday annoyances or social awkwardness. It’s a shared joke with a massive online community that crosses physical borders and language. What could be more powerful than that?

LBB> Why are memes such an inspiration to you?

Frances> When a meme works, it really works. It’s taken and imitated. 

They’ve been shown to propagate in a similar pattern to infectious diseases. Like a virus, the more they morph, the longer they survive. I find it fascinating. 

LBB> How do memes influence you in your approach to your creative work? 

Frances> Ultimately, memes are small snackable bits of content. Often just a headline and an image. It’s what we strive to make every day in advertising. If only one of my ads had been enjoyed so readily and shared across continents. 

It’s also a daily reminder of how we as people are all inherently creative. If Brenda from Port Talbot can make a meme that’s viewed 30 million times, imitated and shared across the world, then there is hope for us too. It reminds me that authenticity is the key, and if we can find a human truth and make people laugh - that is when the magic happens. 

LBB> Which memes do you keep coming back to and why?

Frances> I did create a ‘How it Started, How it’s Going’ meme for a particularly brutal 22 person, two week, family holiday in France. I won’t share it. 

Having suffered a mild moth infestation in my house for years, the moth meme really speaks to me.

Covid was brutal. We got some really good memes. 

Used to talk about everything from politics to Photoshop. Has 'Distracted Boyfriend' now reached peak meme?

My recent favourite meme: Gary Barlow’s massive son.