There are many campaigns and strategies that different governments and institutions implemented to deal with the Covid-19 coronavirus health crisis, however, there is one that, on more than one occasion, has stolen the attention of Mexicans on social networks.
We are talking about the campaign of the government of Jaime Rodríguez Calderón, better known as El Bronco, who from his social networks seeks to raise awareness among the population of Mexico, mainly from Nuevo León, about the situation due to Covid-19.
The Bronco strategy
Memes have become a key form of communication, very effective, in social networks and which perhaps nowadays no one can say that they have never seen, heard or shared to transmit a message in a regularly comical way.
The magic of memes is that one image is enough to reach billions of people in the world, so they have been normalized to such a degree that the governor of Nuevo León has been in charge of creating an entire campaign for the social media illustrated with memes.
One of his most recent, and perhaps striking, is a montage that shows The Bronco in the center of the photo and to the sides is Sylvester Stallone and an Oompa Loompa – the famous staff of the film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, in his 2005- version, as well as the legend “The variant doesn’t matter. The joke is that you take care of yourself!”
It is clear that the message sought to illustrate the variants of SARS-CoV-2 with its own image and two characters that could be its ‘variants’.
The variant does NOT matter, but how you take care of yourself. Thanks to the restrictions in place and those who take care of themselves, little by little we have managed to reduce the cases of COVID-19. However, it is important to note that it is essential to continue with prevention measures. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/gRenVD4OtY
– JAIME RDZ EL BRONCO (@JaimeRdzNL) August 31, 2021
From the social networks Government officials have replicated this photomontage with the description that although the number of Covid-19 infections in the entity has been reduced, it is important that citizens continue to take care of themselves.
Memes, a well executed alternative
Memes today are a fundamental part of the internet and social networks, because we must even consider that, according to the Study of media and device consumption among Mexican Internet users by Kantar and IAB Mexico, shared by Statista, in 2020 64 percent of Mexican Internet users surveyed stated that they preferred to see funny content such as jokes and memes on social networks, outperforming news, music and even posts about their friends and family.
This is also reflected in the content they share from their profiles on different social networks such as Facebook, WhatsApp or Twitter, since memes were also the most requested content according to the same study. Surpassing, by far, the photos, songs and news.
In addition, considering that other Statista data indicate 73 percent of young Mexicans between 18 and 24 years old, better known as “centennials”, are the ones who most frequently resort to this form of communication.
With this in mind, it would not be very strange if El Bronco’s strategy with memes within social networks to generate conversation and attract more audiences, sending its message to its target audience: young people, since on more than one occasion it has indicated that the situation is serious for this group.
Good Morning. I want to acknowledge the young people who will come today to receive their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, in the municipality of Monterrey. Thanks to the conscientious people, who like you, have decided to get vaccinated when they have the opportunity, and to those who 1/2 pic.twitter.com/GUHMsYV59C
– JAIME RDZ EL BRONCO (@JaimeRdzNL) September 2, 2021
This is not an isolated event, institutions such as the ISSSTE have also resorted to this strategy to deliver a preventive message about Covid-19 from their digital channels.
Taking into account that, an investigation carried out by Proxima indicates that every year up to 60 percent of the budget that advertisers allocate to the digital environment is wasted globally, which includes the management of social networks, viral memes are one of the key channels, where its creativity and simplicity can make it a success.
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