Mapping together wit and wanderlust

Memes Meet Munnar Kerala Tourism's pop culture mash-ups bring humour and global recall to state branding

- GEETIKA SRIVASTAVA

WHEN A BRITISH F-35B fighter jet made an emergency landing at the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport in June following a technical snag, the mood was one of apprehension until Kerala Tourism unleashed a playful meme. The post went viral, cementing what has become the board's new hallmark: agility, humour and cultural fluency.

For a government-led account, that was a curious break from the usual. "Normally, government brands are not known for humour," says Shelton Pinheiro, executive creative director at Stark Communications, which handles Kerala Tourism's campaigns. "We've consciously tried to bring a certain lightness into our content because our product itself is holidays and leisure." The team routinely rejects four or five ideas for every meme that gets published, says his colleague Kenney Jacob, director, digital & social media, underscoring that virality is "never a science" but a mix of instinct, speed, and brand fit.