Meme Team: Viral Marketing & Pop Culture
Meme Team is the podcast where we discuss viral pop culture moments in movies, TV, music, sports, and politics.
Host Sonia Baschez breaks down real campaigns, brand decisions, and creative marketing strategies behind the moments everyone's talking about. Part funny marketing stories, part marketing big picture strategy, each episode unpacks why something worked, why it failed, or why it spread.
Topics include trending marketing moves, AI marketing campaigns, cause marketing campaigns, brand storytelling, and the culture-commerce overlap that shapes what we consume. If you want impactful marketing thinking, not just tactics, this is the show.
New episodes every week.
Recent Episodes
24
June 25, 2026
Brands That Know Ball: Obama, Mamdani, and Norway vs. Shrek 5 and DoorDash
Sonia sits down with Ashwin Balakrishnan to break down Obama's presidential library speech, Mayor Mamdani's Knicks championship address, Norway's Viking World Cup campaign, and why Shrek 5's trailer is getting destroyed online. The big thesis: joy-based solidarity is undersupplied in political and brand content right now, and the brands that engineer hope without manufacturing it are winning the monoculture moment. Obama said America's story isn't frozen in the past, and Mamdani used the Knicks'
23
June 17, 2026
Why Sincerity Scales: Freddy at the World Cup, the Knicks Win, and Ferrari's PR Disaster
Sonia Baschez sits down with Jay Kapoor, General Partner at VSC Ventures and host of the Climb podcast, to break down three viral pop culture moments from sports and marketing, and what they tell us about sincerity, brand strategy, and the shifting power dynamic between athletes and the companies that sponsor them. A German soccer fan named Freddy drove from Atlanta through Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, posted everything he saw on X, and went from zero followers
22
June 11, 2026
Scarcity as Strategy: The Odyssey in IMAX, Norwegian vikings & Harvard’s F*** AI Speech
Sonia sits down with Dino Delic, head of data driven communications research lab at Meltwater, to break down Christopher Nolan's Odyssey IMAX strategy, World Cup brand activations, and Ronnie Cheng's viral Harvard commencement speech telling graduates to destroy AI. The big thesis: scarcity is a strategy, and the brands that engineer demand without oversaturating win the monoculture moment. Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey isn't just the most anticipated film of the summer. It's running one of th
22
June 4, 2026
Own Your Audience: Spielberg's Podcast Debut, Celebrity Narratives & YouTube's New Directors
Sonia sits down with Visa Veerasamy, writer, marketing consultant, and author of Friendly Ambitious Nerd, to break down Steven Spielberg's first podcast appearance, how YouTubers are skipping film school and breaking box office records, and why Ferrari's electric car launch flopped. The big thesis: own your audience before you ask for permission, and platforms are selecting for people who can speak well at length. Steven Spielberg went on his first podcast ever at 78 years old. He joined Bill Si
20
May 28, 2026
Lessons from Hollywood: Storytelling, Building Your Audience & the YouTube-to-Horror Pipeline
Sonia sits down with Brianne Kimmel, founder of Worklife Ventures and GTM Advisor at ElevenLabs, to break down how AI is reshaping content creation, what Barnes & Noble's stance on AI books means for publishers, and why horror films are the new path to Hollywood stardom. The big thesis: here’s what Silicon Valley and Hollywood can learn from each other and how creatives can flourish in both industries. Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt said they're willing to have AI books on shelves if publishers
19
May 21, 2026
Hollywood & AI: Reese Witherspoon, Spencer Pratt, CMO Fatigue + Spotify
Sonia sits down with Robin Simon Wood, SVP of Production at New Motion, to break down how Hollywood women are talking about AI, why CMO fatigue is real, and Spencer Pratt's clipping campaign for LA mayor. The big thesis: if you're going to take a stance, figure out what you're actually trying to say, and stick to your guns. Demi Moore spoke at Cannes and said AI is inevitable, so we should work with it instead of fighting it. Reese Witherspoon posted an Instagram video about making smoothies and
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