1. www.lawtoncommsgroup.com V1.0 June 2011 Look mum I’m meme riding! Steve Sponder - Group Strategy Director – Lawton Communications Group blog.stevesponder.com // @stevesponder

2. News jacking is when brands contribute to something which has already captured people’s attention. Now don't get me wrong I'm right behind the activity in fact I blogged about it in my 2009 post about social currency. However, I've been using a different term, meme riding. Personally I don't like the term news jacking, let me explain why.

3. First off it has connotations of hijacking which is not the right mind-set to be in at all. This is about joining a conversation, not hijacking it. Would you attempt to hijack a conversation in a pub? No, of course you wouldn't.

4. Secondly, I don't think ‘news’ is broad enough. A meme is an idea, activity or information that is gaining attention, they are conversations which are growing and getting louder. Can the news media be the springboard or the platform that helps them grow? Sure but that doesn’t mean we should call it news-jacking, because these memes don't have to come via the news media.

5. I think the reason this label is being used is partly because this activity is related to an existing PR tactic, but this meme riding opportunity is quite different and a new label is useful in order to make this point. Some examples of meme riding…

6. T Mobile – Flash Mob Riding off the back of the growing flash mob trend, T-Mobile staged a flash mob in Liverpool Street Station as part of their ‘Life’s worth sharing’ campaign. View Case Study Video Image source: sostav.ru

7. Converse – Domaination This campaign uses search insights to inform which culturally relevant keywords to bid on. Converse then create engaging content to capture peoples interest and imagination. View Case Study Video

8. Ann Summers – PPC Campaign Ann Summers joined the conversation in their own unique way through-out 2010 by running a PPC campaign, bidding on high-traffic, topical keywords such as Election 2010, Snow 2010 and Budget 2010. View Case Study Video

9. B&Q – PPC Campaign When searches for England wicketkeeper Matt Prior increased on Google because he was reprimanded by ICC for smashing a dressing room window, B&Q took the opportunity to join the conversation.

10. Condomerie – Bingo Condom specialist Condomeire rode the Chatroulette meme in their Bingo campaign. View Case Study Video

11. Lionsgate– ‘The Last Exorcism’ Film Lionsgatealso rode the Chatroulette meme to advertise the release of their film ‘The Last Exorcism’. View Case Study Video

12. EA Games – Jesus Shot Whilst playing Tiger Woods 08 a gamer was able to get Tiger to stand on top of a lake. After a video of this coding glitch started trending in YouTube, EA responded by staying there was no glitch and provided the video evidence that showed Tiger Woods walking on water. View Case Study Video

13. Blendtec – Will It Blend? Blendtec creates videos of their founder Tom Dicksonblending gadgets. They choose gadgets which have high profile launches and high levels of conversation around them. The blending of the iPad attracted over 10m views in YouTube.CaseStudy Video

14. www.lawtoncommsgroup.com V1.0 June 2011 Look mum I’m meme riding! Steve Sponder - Group Strategy Director – Lawton Communications Group blog.stevesponder.com // @stevesponder