The prehistoric man, Uba, spent all day in the rain trying to catch a fish because his family was very hungry and in dire need of food. But he was unable to grab a fish from the stream even though he occasionally got his hands on one. Frustrated and weak from hunger, he just couldn't grab any fish firmly enough because it would slither from his hands and return to the stream. Worse yet, the light rain turned to a heavy rain and Uba was forced to seek shelter in a nearby cave.

Entering it, when his eyes became accustomed to the dark, he noticed a series of paintings in the cave. One depicted a deer. Another represented a godlike figure. But it was the third that captured his attention.

There on the cave wall, was a simple drawing - a stick figure of a man holding a long stick. At the end of the stick, a fish was impaled. Suddenly, Uba got the idea! Within an hour, he returned to his family carrying five fish, all of which he had caught with a stick that had one end sharpened.

Uba's family was saved by a meme. A meme is a self-explanatory symbol, using words, action, sounds, or in this case, pictures, that communicate an entire idea. Uba may have discovered the first meme in history.

Since Uba's time, there have been many more memes. In fact, as much as you used to see the word "internet," during the nineties, that's about as many times as you'll see the word "memes" during the aughts.

Memes in marketing are a whole new idea. Some have existed, but those were created long before the concept of memes was known. The word meme, though coined in l976 by Oxford biologist Richard Dawkins in his book, "The Selfish Gene," has been the architect of human behavior since the beginning of time. The wheel was major improvement in transportation and conveyance, and was also a meme because it was a self-explanatory symbol representing a complete idea.

There are three things you should know about memes:

1. It's the lowest common denominator of an idea, a basic unit of communication.

2. It has the ability to alter human behavior.

3. It is energized with emotion.

In guerrilla marketing, a meme's purpose is profiting, selling, motivating, and communicating instantly how your product or service improves lives. It can do this with words (Lean Cuisine), pictures (Marlboro cowboy), sounds (from the valley of the jolly ho ho ho, Green Giant), actions (Clydesdales pulling Budweiser wagon), or imagery (Burger-King's flame-broiled image).

For guerrillas, a meme is a concept that has been so simplified that anybody can understand it instantly and easily. Within two seconds you must convey who you are, why someone should buy from you instead of a competitor, trigger an emotional response and generate a desire.

To put you even more on my wavelength, consider many of the other memes we have learned to know and possibly even love:

Healthy Choice Be Direct - Dell Intel inside Got milk?

Capitalist Tool - Forbes Panasonic - just slightly ahead of our time Where do you want to go today?

America Online Drivers wanted - VW I'm going to Disneyland!

UPS - moving at the speed of business M&Ms melt in your mouth, not in your hands Be all that you can be.

SlimFast Weight Watchers NBC - must-see TV A diamond is forever Toys R Us Staples - yeah, we've got what you want Foot Joy V for victory Gatorade poured on winning coach Things go better with Coke 7-Up ---The uncola I want my MTV!

The Mall of America Snap, crackle and pop Keep in mind that in marketing, a meme is an idea or concept that has been refined, distilled, stripped downs to its bare essentials, then super-simplified in such a way that anybody can grasp its meaning instantly and effortlessly.

Try to imagine a motorist speeding down a highway, just entering a curve. All of a sudden, a billboard comes into view. It shows a mutilated child, an ambulance, paramedics, flashing lights, weeping parents and a grim police officer. The billboard copy: Speed kills.

The combined effect of the photo and copy constitutes a meme that instantly, effortlessly and lucidly transmits an entire complex message into a human mind in a single involuntary glance. If you saw it while driving, there is little doubt that you would cut your speed without even thinking about it on a rational level.

From Geoff Ayling's "Rapid Response Advertising," (Business and Professional Publishing, l998, Warriewood, Australia, info@woodslane.com.cu, we learn that memes have an enormous impact on our lives. They invade our minds without either our knowledge or our permission, and initiate a chain reaction. They create an involuntary shift in perception, which in turn creates a shift in attitude, which creates a shift in behavior - and that is the ultimate goal of all marketing.

With so much marketing and advertising, both online and offline, assailing our senses, it's more important now than ever to create a meme for your own company. I didn't say it was easy, but I am saying it is mandatory if you're to stand out in an ever-competitive crowd - a crowd that relishes its time more than ever. Don't be like Uba and wait till you're all wet and hungry.



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