Companies are leveraging Gen Z’s “Brain Rot” trend in their
marketing
The next generation of shitposting memes have entered the marketing game. Nutter Butter and Duolingo have already jumped on the bandwagon.
Gen Z’s Brain Rot trend is the 2024 Word of the Year.
Duolingo and Nutter Butter are crushing it with viral TikToks full of Brain Rot humor.
Experts warn — too much Brain Rot, and your brand could flop. Mix in real value.
Heard about “brain rot”? The term grew in usage by 230% this year alone, and it’s the newest Gen Z and Gen Alpha trend. Unfortunately for us, it’s coming to marketing. And Oxford University Press even made it the 2024 Word of the Year.
As Gillian Follett from AdAge writes, “brain rot” is the so-called mental mush you get from consuming too much goofy, nonsense content. Things like the newest absurd memes about the Grinch getting knee surgery or “Queen never cry” you see now all over TikTok reaching millions of views.
Brands like Duolingo and Nutter Butter are riding the brain rot wave to catch the attention of younger audiences. Some examples are Duolingo’s TikTok video featuring its owl singing a gibberish version of “Cotton Eye Joe” reaching over 68 million views. Or Nutter Butter's... bizarre video that got 11 million views.
If this all feels familiar, that’s because brain rot memes are basically the evolved version of the deep-fried memes, dunk memes, and shitposting. Those older formats thrived on chaos, irony, and “what even is this” vibes, but brain rot leans into goofy, childlike humor.
If something feels a bit off here, you're not wrong. Experts say going all-in on “brain rot” could mess up your brand's image. As Maggie Walsh from Glow puts it, “If brain rot takes over your whole strategy, you're basically giving your brand voice an expiration date.” So yeah, don’t overdo it.
Even Oxford University Press says this trend ties into a bigger cultural shift. Gen Z is dealing with stress from money and mental health issues.Brain rot offers a quick mental break. But while memes like “only in Ohio” might boost engagement, you’ll need to mix in something meaningful.
Bottom line? Brain rot has its cultural moment right now. You can ignore or leverage it. Your choice.
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This is not marketing. Ogilvy will be turning in his grave
Man I can't wait for the Gen Z kids to pass the torch to the Gen Alpha kids. Hopefully it'll be like the hippie baby boomers from the 70s passing the torch to Gen X, which was boring, gray, forgettable, and refreshingly normal.
These trends only make sense to adopt if you're selling a B2C product directly to Gen Z/Gen Alpha consumers.
I'm wondering how this would hold up in B2B SaaS with multiple levels of decision-makers. It might appeal to entry-level and younger end users, but this marketing could be off-putting to the actual decision-makers.
Yeah right! Brain rot memes are definitely a trend to watch! They're great for engagement, especially with Gen Z and Gen Alpha, but brands need to be careful not to overdo it. A little chaos is fun, but staying true to your brand’s voice is key. Balance is everything!
you also have to have a product that is appealing to gen-z so you don't look ridiculous