It's all about meme

News flash: Logos are last year's news! Enter: the meme. The Webster dictionary defines "meme" as "an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture." In other words, a meme is a self-explanatory symbol, using words, action, sounds, or in this case, pictures, that communicate an entire idea.

In marketing, a meme is an image that instantly conveys a message. It's a concept stripped down to it's most basic element so that in today's ad saturated culture your message doesn't need to be "baked first" before it's "consumed".

Jay Conrad Levinson of "Guerilla Marketing" fame states:

"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."

Some examples of meme's given in "Guerilla Marketing for Consultants" by Levinson and McLaughlin are the skull-and-crossbones symbol, the hitchhiker's thumb, the Red Cross and the Nike swoosh because they all convey a complete thought in a flash.

The "meme" is a new marketing concept, but it shouldn't be a passing fad.