GIFs Are Ads, and How People Interact With Them with Giphy | Behind the Numbers

Summary

Behind the Numbers: GIFs Are Ads, and How People Interact With Them with Giphy

Episode Release Date: May 30, 2025

In this episode of EMARKETER’s Behind the Numbers podcast, host Marcus engages in an insightful conversation with Alix McAlpine, Vice President of Client Solutions at Giphy, alongside EMARKETER’s analysts Emmy Liederman and Jeremy Goldman. The discussion delves deep into the evolving role of GIFs in digital advertising, exploring how brands can effectively utilize GIFs to connect with audiences and enhance engagement.

---

Guests Introduction

• Emmy Liederman: An EMARKETER analyst based in New York.
• Jeremy Goldman: Senior Director of Briefings at EMARKETER, also located in New York.
• Alix McAlpine: VP of Client Solutions for Giphy, based in Los Angeles.

Notable Moment:

Jeremy Goldman [01:08]: "Happy National Creativity Day. That's a real thing."

---

Exploring Personal Interests: Art and Creativity

The conversation begins with a light-hearted segment where guests share their favorite pieces of art, revealing diverse perspectives on creativity and personal preferences.

• Alix McAlpine [02:22]: Discusses her admiration for contemporary artists like Matthew Palladino and Paul Wacker, emphasizing her love for painting and the creative process behind GIFs.

• Emmy Liederman [03:19]: Expresses difficulty in naming a favorite piece of art but shares affection for Kusama and her nephew’s school artwork, highlighting the personal connections to art.

• Jeremy Goldman [04:05]: Mentions his brother-in-law, an art historian and cartographer, underscoring the influence of personal relationships on his appreciation for art.

Humorous Exchange:

Marcus [03:36]: "I was looking up the most expensive painting ever sold at auction. Do we know this?"

Alix McAlpine [04:12]: "Damien Hurst."

This segment not only humanizes the guests but also sets a creative tone for the episode, bridging the gap between traditional art and digital expressions like GIFs.

---

The Evolution of GIFs and Giphy’s Role

The core discussion transitions to the history and functionality of GIFs, setting the stage for understanding their significance in modern digital communication and advertising.

• Marcus [05:00]: Provides a brief history of GIFs, crediting Steve Wilhite for their invention in 1987 and tracing their evolution from still images to looped videos.

• Alix McAlpine [06:18]: Explains Giphy’s role as a leading search engine for GIFs, facilitating the discovery and integration of GIFs across various platforms and applications.

Key Insight:

Alix McAlpine [06:58]: "Chances are if you see a GIF button somewhere where you're able to search and all these thousands of apps, chances are it's fired by Giphy."

This highlights Giphy’s pervasive presence in digital communications, making it a vital tool for brands aiming to leverage GIFs for engagement.

---

Understanding User Behavior and Trends in GIF Usage

Alix delves into the nuanced ways users interact with GIFs, emphasizing their role in self-expression and real-time engagement with cultural moments.

• Alix McAlpine [07:16]: Describes GIF usage as a form of self-expression, encompassing reactions, emotions, quick phrases, and workplace communications via platforms like Slack and Teams.

• Cultural Alignment: Alix points out that GIF trends are closely tied to current cultural events and evolving language, such as the surge in searches related to the New York Knicks or emerging slang terms like "crashing out" and "aura."

Notable Observation:

Alix McAlpine [10:29]: "If you see language change or new pieces of slang kind of surface in other places online or in conversations, chances are people are also going to be looking to express that phrase or that word, that sentence in GIF form."

This underscores the dynamic nature of GIF usage, where trends are both a reflection and a driver of cultural and linguistic shifts.

---

Data-Driven Insights and Search Behavior

The discussion highlights how Giphy monitors and analyzes GIF search trends to stay ahead of cultural movements and anticipate user needs.

• Alix McAlpine [10:29]: Explains the dual approach of proactive search input and trending dashboards to identify and respond to emerging trends and spikes in GIF searches.

Impact of Trends:

Alix McAlpine [09:25]: "We can also see kind of what people care about in pop culture, what's popular... We saw a lot of searches for that or those kinds of things."

• Jeremy Goldman [09:05]: Reflects on the power of understanding search data to gain contextual insights into user sentiments and experiences.

This data-centric approach allows Giphy to curate relevant and timely GIFs, ensuring that users have access to expressions that resonate with current societal sentiments.

---

Maximizing Engagement: Best Practices for Brands

Alix shares valuable strategies for brands looking to harness the power of GIFs in their advertising campaigns, emphasizing authenticity and relevance.

• Creative Services: Giphy offers creative support to advertisers, helping them design GIFs that align with real-time cultural moments and brand messaging.

Best Practices Highlighted:

Alix McAlpine [15:17]: "Making sure that seasonality is correct, making sure that the expression is really clear... If it's not, we always advise to add text so that people... can share it."

• Human Touch and Emotion: Emphasizes the importance of human expressions in GIFs to convey genuine emotions, making interactions feel authentic and relatable.

Successful Campaign Examples:

Alix McAlpine [17:33]: Discusses campaigns with AMC’s Fear Fest and Pepsi’s Mug brand, illustrating how tailored GIFs can drive engagement and even lead to measurable sales lifts.

These examples demonstrate the versatility of GIFs in capturing audience attention and fostering meaningful interactions, proving their efficacy as a digital advertising medium.

---

Pitfalls to Avoid and Ensuring Authenticity

Alix advises brands on common mistakes to steer clear of, ensuring that their GIF-based campaigns remain effective and true to brand identity.

• Avoiding Forced Messaging: Brands should ensure that the GIF’s visual expression aligns seamlessly with the intended message, avoiding disjointed or mismatched content.

Example of Success and Caution:

Alix McAlpine [20:12]: Shares the REI Act Outside campaign, highlighting how a GIF depicting trash effectively conveyed the recycling message without forced elements.

• Simplicity in Messaging: Recommends maintaining clear and concise messages within GIFs, especially when repurposing existing footage, to ensure that each GIF conveys a single, understandable message.

Alix McAlpine [20:12]:* "It really needs to be like one message at a time because you have to think if people are searching to say one thing at a time."

By adhering to these guidelines, brands can create compelling and authentic GIFs that resonate with audiences without overwhelming or confusing them.

---

The Intersection of AI and Human Creativity in GIFs

The conversation touches upon the role of artificial intelligence in GIF creation, with a focus on maintaining human authenticity.

• Alix McAlpine [16:08]: Expresses skepticism about AI-generated GIFs, emphasizing that the most impactful GIFs are those created with human emotion and intention.

Key Quote:

Alix McAlpine [16:08]: "We really believe that GIFs are a way for humans to connect. And I think it needs to feel like a human being made it and to really understand emotion, human emotion."

This perspective underscores the importance of human creativity in maintaining the genuine and relatable nature of GIFs, which is crucial for their effectiveness in advertising and personal communication.

---

Future Directions and Global Expansion

Alix concludes by outlining Giphy’s future plans, highlighting efforts to enhance measurement capabilities and expand advertising offerings globally.

• Measurement Enhancements: Giphy is investing in new measurement studies and functionalities, such as geotargeting, to provide more precise analytics for advertisers.

• International Expansion: Plans to introduce advertising in Mexico and Brazil, with further expansions into Canada and the UK on the horizon, reflect Giphy’s commitment to reaching a global audience.

Forward-Looking Statement:

Alix McAlpine [23:00]: "We're working a lot right now to make sure that we're working with our clients to meet their needs with kind of the new measurement stuff."

These initiatives signal Giphy’s dedication to staying at the forefront of digital advertising, continually evolving to meet the needs of brands and users alike.

---

Closing Thoughts

Marcus wraps up the episode by thanking the guests and the production team, teasing the next episode’s focus on attitudes towards artificial intelligence.

Final Quote:

Marcus [23:49]: "Hope you yours is fine."

This episode offers a comprehensive overview of how GIFs have transcended their origins to become a powerful tool in digital marketing. Through expert insights and practical examples, listeners gain a deeper understanding of the strategic use of GIFs in connecting with audiences, fostering engagement, and driving brand success in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.

---

Key Takeaways:

1. GIFs as a Form of Self-Expression: GIFs serve as dynamic tools for conveying emotions, reactions, and cultural moments, making them integral to modern digital communication.

2. Giphy’s Strategic Role: As a leading GIF search engine, Giphy enables brands to tap into trending content and cultural shifts, ensuring that their GIF-based campaigns remain relevant and engaging.

3. Authenticity is Crucial: Successful GIF advertising hinges on maintaining a human touch, ensuring that the visuals and messages resonate authentically with audiences.

4. Data-Informed Creativity: Leveraging search data and trending dashboards allows brands to craft timely and impactful GIFs that align with current cultural and linguistic trends.

5. Global Expansion and Enhanced Measurement: Giphy’s ongoing efforts to expand internationally and refine measurement capabilities indicate a robust future for GIFs in global digital marketing strategies.

This episode serves as an essential guide for marketers, retailers, and advertisers aiming to harness the full potential of GIFs in their digital strategies, providing actionable insights and best practices to navigate the creative and data-driven aspects of GIF advertising.

Transcript

[Marcus]

Want to reach your customers where they're already talking? Where else? Marcus, it's the perfect place. I agree. Listen up. Over the past 10 years, Giphy has built a platform used daily by millions. Everywhere conversations are happening. And now GIPHY Ads helps brands connect with their audiences through ads. People share, not just look at. For more, head to ads.giphy.com and hit the get started button today. That's Ads Giphy. Hey, gang. It's Friday, May 30th. Emmy, Jeremy Alix, and listeners, welcome to behind the Numbers, new marketer video podcast made possible by giphy. I'm Marcus, and today we'll be discussing how people use GIFs and the best ones for brands to use. Join me for that conversation. We have three people. We start with one of our analysts. Listen. Living in New York, it's Emmy Liederman.

[Emmy Liederman]

Hi, thanks for having me.

[Marcus]

Hello there. Of course, we also have with us our senior director of briefings, also in New York City, Jeremy Goldman.

[Jeremy Goldman]

Hey there. And happy National Creativity Day. That's a real thing.

[Marcus]

None of these are real leaks. Jeremy does this.

[Jeremy Goldman]

You can Google it. It's real.

[Alix McAlpine]

Be real.

[Jeremy Goldman]

That's why we have Giphy, because of creativity.

[Marcus]

Also joining us, the VP of client solutions for Giphy. Living in LA, it's Alix McAlpine.

[Alix McAlpine]

Hello. Thanks for having me. And happy National Day of Creativity.

[Marcus]

No, don't join in. Makes it worse. Please don't encourage it. We start with a speed intro to get to know our guests a little better whenever we have someone external on. So 60 seconds on the clock, which we won't pay any attention to. Let's do it. Alix, what do you do in a sentence?

[Alix McAlpine]

In a long run on sentence. I had the client solutions arm of the Giphy ad department, and that means I oversee several teams and I'm in charge of operations, strategy and creative at giphy Ads. And what we do is help brands connect to audiences one GIF at a time.

[Marcus]

Okay. In the spirit of creative. Second question. What is your favorite piece of art?

[Alix McAlpine]

This is an impossible question. We have to acknowledge that. Right, Marcus?

[Marcus]

Yes.

[Alix McAlpine]

Okay.

[Marcus]

Do you have a top 10?

[Alix McAlpine]

I have favorite artists.

[Marcus]

Oh, okay.

[Alix McAlpine]

So there's some contemporary artists that I love and that I have prints or I've purchased some of their paintings. Matthew Palladino out of sf, he makes these, like, amazing cactus illustrations. I think he lives in Bolivia now. Incredible stuff. Paul Wacker's a painter out of New York. And then I'm a huge fan of some of the people we've worked on Gifts with at giphy, one of my old colleagues, Parker Jack. He makes these, like, incredibly spooky drawings. He made awesome gifs. He's got incredible range. Love a good painter is what I'm trying to say.

[Marcus]

Yeah, okay. Very nice. I asked Emmy this ahead of time. She said, I hate art.

[Emmy Liederman]

Marcus, I didn't say I hate art.

[Marcus]

Isn't that what you said?

[Emmy Liederman]

I said verbatim, like sometimes when someone says, what's your favorite? Like, fill in the blank, it's just you suddenly have not heard of a single thing in that category, which is exactly what happened to me.

[Marcus]

All right, what'd you have for?

[Emmy Liederman]

So I can't think of a work of art. I love Kusama. And then my second answer is, anything my nephew makes for me at school is my favorite work of art.

[Marcus]

That is the best answer. Jeremy, mate, I'm so sorry. You've got a fault.

[Emmy Liederman]

And Jeremy has kids.

[Jeremy Goldman]

No, that's not fair. Yeah, pick a favor. Well, okay. Like people who are dead. I would say Vermeer has, like, a lot of really good stuff. I'm married to an art historian. I. I don't love art. I think it's like, art, do we need it really? But in all seriousness, my brother in law, Darren Sears, is a big cartographer, painter person, and I have his art behind me whenever I do TV from home. And everybody says, you were okay, but that's really good art. So I think that he has to get a mention.

[Marcus]

Very nice. I was looking up the most expensive painting ever sold at auction. Do we know this?

[Alix McAlpine]

Damien Hurst.

[Marcus]

Da Vinci, Salvatore Mundi, Savior of the world. Well, this 2017, so you might be right. Alix, there's a good chance this is wrong, but some art historians and critics question its authenticity and the extent of his involvement. So maybe this doesn't count. So, Hearst, a good guess. However, the most expensive, the most highest valued painting in the world is a more obvious one.

[Alix McAlpine]

Mona Lisa.

[Marcus]

Mona Lisa, indeed. Oh, Mona Lisa. Valued at close to a billion dollars. That's too much. We've seen it, right?

[Emmy Liederman]

I've never seen it. Do I need to see it?

[Marcus]

No, you don't. It's fine.

[Jeremy Goldman]

I saw a GIF of it once, and I feel like that.

[Emmy Liederman]

Yeah, I saw it on giphy, so I think I'm good.

[Marcus]

Good pivot. Alix, did you see it?

[Alix McAlpine]

I've seen it. I grew up in Paris, so. Spent a lot of time at the Louvre. That is a flex. I'm sorry, the French person. I have to mention it.

[Marcus]

What did you think?

[Alix McAlpine]

Smaller than you expect.

[Marcus]

Exactly. Rubbish. It was okay from a distance. Anyway. Today's real topic, why GIFs are ads and how people interact with them. All right, folks, Graphics interchange format is something that no one has ever heard of, but you'll be hard pressed to find someone who didn't know its acronym gif. Credit for the invention goes to Steve Wilhite. He was working at CompuServe in 1987 and came up with them as a way to efficiently transmit color images over slow Internet connections using a compression algorithm. They started as still images, but new editing software like Photoshop also made it easier to transform the GIF from a collection of still images to a looped video. Notice a 2017 Vox article from Asia Romano. Fast forward to 2013 and Giphy was born. But Alix, what does Giphy do?

[Alix McAlpine]

What does Giphy do? Broadly, we're search engine for GIFs. That's where kind of the idea came from, is helping people find these GIFs that they were using in other places. Online, we like to say kind of, chances are if you see a GIF button somewhere where you're able to search and all these thousands of apps, chances are it's fired by giphy. And on the back end, we have a lot of teams that work with brands, that's what I do, but also partners with sports leagues, artists, entertainment studios, et cetera, to make sure that we always have kind of fresh, cool gifts to help satisfy people's needs.

[Marcus]

And when we were talking a bit before the recording, you'd said that the user behavior, how people use GIFs is quite interesting and also has changed somewhat. So what are some trends on how people are communicating at the moment, how they used to. How is GIF user behavior changing or changed?

[Alix McAlpine]

Yeah, broadly you'll see a lot of the same kind of, if you want to encompass it, it's all kind of self expression. So you see a lot of reactions, emotions, kind of quick phrases, greetings and anything that you might say in a workplace. I think a lot of people use giphy on teams, on Slack, in the workplace, in emails. But what I think I mentioned in our previous conversation is that you'll see it evolve also with what's happening in pop culture or what's happening that day. So there's a lot of conversations about, I called it, I think the passage of time. So TGIF people love to celebrate the weekend. People always talk about the weather, but also kind of what's going on broadly. In sports, for example, example, I looked up the Knicks up 500% in search this week because people are very, very excited over in New York about the Knicks. And we can also see it evolve as language evolves. So we know that language is evolving kind of as part of life. But if you see language change or new pieces of slang kind of surface in other places online or in conversations, chances are people are also going to be looking to express that phrase or that word, that sentence in GIF form. So I looked at a little bit on pieces of slang that I could think of that I've seen surface and crashing out, really spiking crash out and crashing out. Things I see people Talk about on TikTok, that's up. It spiked last month and then something like aura. I don't know if you've noticed people talking about aura that spiked last September, but we can all see. I don't know. It can be anything. But I think it moves with culture and it moves with what's happening in the moment, what people are talking about.

[Marcus]

I know none of these words. Sorry, go on, Jeremy.

[Jeremy Goldman]

I was going to say I feel like it's really interesting to be able to that search bar in those interfaces, just to be sitting on all of that data that gives you some contextual cues as to what that person is thinking and experiencing in that moment. That can be really powerful in a way that I hadn't really thought about so much before.

[Alix McAlpine]

Definitely. We can also see kind of what people care about in pop culture, what's popular. For example, there are memes that surface. I think we've all had that moment where you're like, oh, something happens on your TV or in a movie and you're like, oh, that would make an amazing meme. Kind of the Beyonce reaction at the Grammys this year when she won. I think it was album of the year that kind of really took off. We saw a lot of searches for that or those kind of. I feel like we've had a lot of, like, television omniculture moments this year, White Lotus finale, severance finale. We see that also pop on the back end and on giphy that people are really looking to talk about the things they. They care about in culture, too.

[Emmy Liederman]

So what about, like, going back to the. The crashing out example? Because that's definitely very much like TikTok Gen Z language. When you find one of those trends on the GIPHY platform, do you feel like it's often things that you haven't heard of or your team hasn't heard of and it's. It's emerging, or is it usually just Kind of reinforcing things you're already seeing.

[Alix McAlpine]

That's interesting. So there are a couple ways that we look at data. One is kind of this proactive search. So I have a dashboard where I can just enter words that I find or that I notice out in the wild and we can make the recommendations. If we see that there's a certain volume of searches, we make the recommendation. A lot of advertisers come to us to talk about, to speak to the Gen Z audience. So say, oh, we saw this on TikTok. We have creative strategists that are in charge of kind of following those trends. But we also have a trending dashboard where we see things that really have a lot of variance day to day. And that's where we can see a lot of athlete names pop up or kind of phrases that we're like, gosh, why are people talking about that? And then we might back into the search to figure out kind of where that certain series of words is coming from. If it's a. Feels like a sentence, not a proper name.

[Marcus]

What does crashing out mean? Just for. I'm asking for.

[Emmy Liederman]

There aren't many things that crashing out doesn't mean. Honestly, it's a pretty all encompassing term. It just kind of means like. Jeremy, what does it mean? It just means crashing out.

[Jeremy Goldman]

Yeah, I was going to say like that. That's part of the point of this is like when you see it, you know it, you know how to explain it. But it's, it's, it's visual, it's, it's.

[Marcus]

I don't think this means anything.

[Jeremy Goldman]

It does, if I'm honest. It definitely does.

[Marcus]

Like, vibe doesn't mean anything.

[Jeremy Goldman]

Vibe does mean everything.

[Emmy Liederman]

At the same time, I don't think vibe means anything. Vibe has come to mean nothing.

[Jeremy Goldman]

Well, it loses over time. Like what it. Because it kind of becomes amorphous. Right. But at the start it had. Okay, not to do that.

[Marcus]

Off topic. Can you please focus? Both of you.

[Jeremy Goldman]

Emmy's fault. Sorry.

[Marcus]

What kinds of. Alex, what kinds of. Well, actually, really quickly you said that you've got this dashboard and you're seeing kind of spikes of certain gifts at certain moments. Do you also see ones that, like, what share of gifts just sit at the top of the charts all the time? Is it like 20% kind of room for those, those new folks who kind of come and go, or are you seeing like really high turnover across pretty much all of them?

[Alix McAlpine]

That's a really good question. I think that the answer is a little bit of both. We know, through kind of studies that we've conducted, like audience studies that people really like finding new gifts. So we see if people like finding gifts that feel they're discovering something new that their friends haven't seen. So when we're creating GIFs for the platform, we have a dedicated studios team. We'll try to like. The secret like element that we're trying to hit on is something that almost feels familiar but unexpected. Like you're the first person who saw the meme. You know, you want to be the hipster of the gif. But there are also like all the iconic, all the iconic ones that you can think of. The Kermit sipping tea. I don't know the. Of course I can't think of any on the spot. Homer in the bushes, all of those. I think people. There are some definite, definite like frequent.

[Marcus]

Flyers in John Travolta being like, yep.

[Alix McAlpine]

Yeah, once from movies. You'd be surprised how many people still want to see an Ace Ventura.

[Marcus]

Oh, well played.

[Alix McAlpine]

Or anchorman. Yeah, that escalated quickly. I think there are some like real classics that will always get drive some search volumes, volume. But people like a little freshie once in a while for sure.

[Marcus]

Okay, my question is how far will people scroll to find the perfect gift? Sometimes I'm 15 minutes in and like I spent way too long here.

[Alix McAlpine]

I think it depends. We have power users. I, I think we see a lot of engagement on that first placement that in the, the search, what we sell to advertisers is like the promoted placement is that first one in the trending feed and search. Because there chances are people are moving quickly. You know, if you're in conversation and you' like in the group chat people are sending GIFs. You want to like get the reply quickly. So we do a lot of work to curate to make sure that that first result is the most popular. Is exactly what people are trying to say when they're looking for something. But there's some gold if you, if you dig. Because we have a lot of people are constantly uploading new content and takes a while for it to rise algorithmically. So depends on what kind of GIF.

[Marcus]

User you are digging. I spend way too much time on this.

[Jeremy Goldman]

Sorry, Jeremy, is it hard to. Because one thing I'm really curious about is just trying to educate, let's say a sponsor on what makes for a good gif and just to understand culturally how to be present within this ecosystem in a way that doesn't feel intrusive. I feel like that's always a bit of A challenge.

[Alix McAlpine]

Yeah. One of the things that's particular to giphy is that if you're doing a paid campaign with us, part of what you get is creative services. So a lot of the time we can just say, like, leave it up to us. We got. We got you off. Of course we have best practices. And it really is surrounding kind of talking about what's in the moment when you're running your campaign. So making sure that seasonality is correct, making sure that the expression is really clear. So leaning into kind of exuberance goes a long way. You know, like, you want the human expression to be adaptable to a lot of people, but be very clear. And if it's not, we always advised to add text so that people, when they're in search again in that group chat, trying to fire them off really quickly, that it is exactly what people are looking for and that people are more likely to use that and share it.

[Marcus]

You mentioned the human expression. I'm curious, how is giphy thinking about AI and trying to stay authentically human in some of those connections? The way GIFs connect people.

[Alix McAlpine]

AI, if we must. It's hard. I'm sure you noticed as I answered the artist question, such a huge fan of painting, which is like the one. I mean, the AI can make something that looks like a painting. We really believe that gifts are a way for humans to connect. And I think it needs to feel like a human being made it and to really understand emotion, human emotion. I really feel like the results are best when it's created by someone who has put kind of a little heart into it and really kind of understands where this might appear in a conversation, in which context, and really hits the heart of what people are trying to express. Whether it is something silly that makes someone laugh or something that is really sincere. We see a lot of very sincere content. Those greetings that I mentioned earlier, like a happy Mother's Day. Obviously, we want sincere content to be. To land properly. If people are using gifts to have kind of more difficult conversations or kind of say things that they're uncomfortable saying, like, I love you, I miss you. We really think that having that human touch is important to connect people.

[Marcus]

You were talking about some best practices for brands working with giphy. Could you give us an example or two about some kind of successful examples of how brands worked with giphy?

[Alix McAlpine]

Yeah, definitely. There's no kind of real secret sauce because the possibilities are endless. We can work with all sorts of advertisers because what people can say with GIFs kind of endless the possibilities are endless. But I thought of a couple examples. One that did really well. Last year we worked with amc. They have Fear Fest around Halloween each year and they kind of resurface classic moments from movies. So we had this chucky evil laugh gif that did great. Busted all the benchmarks. We also worked with CPG brands a lot last year. Last year was kind of our. Our first year back in market and we worked with Mug, which is a Pepsi brand. And we made all these gifts of their mascot that's named Dog. It's just a large dog. And we made these gifts that kind of utilize the root beer in unconventional ways. So there was a good morning gift where he was kind of pouring two big bottles of root beer into like a giant coffee mug. And it said good morning and it did really well. And one of the things about Mug is that this was the first campaign we were able to partner with a measurement partner named Adresta. And we did kind of a sales lift study using sales data and we got a 4.1% sales lift on the whole campaign. So we know that these kind of like silly, unconventional, we call them unhinged dog gifts drove actual sales for this brand. And the other thing that I would point to is we did this great campaign with Call of Duty where remember we were just talking about the classic meme gifs. They wanted to use those gifts to insert this character that they created called the replacer that was part of all their TV campaigns. So the replacer is this guy that comes and replaces you at work, wherever, with your family when you're. So you can go play Call of Duty. That was the whole campaign. It was this. It was like an iconic character actors, this like creepy looking guy. So he was the replacement in all their TV ads. And then they recreated all these gifts. Gifts where they replaced Homer in the bushes, replaced Jonah Hill freaking out. They did a ton of these GIFs and the attention to detail. They made a muppet of him to be Kermit sipping tea. And they kind of took over giphy for the day to drive attention to the new Call of Duty. And that also did awesome. There was so much chatter like, what is this guy doing in all the gifts? And it was a really cool moment for us last year.

[Marcus]

Nice. What should brands not do when it comes to gifts?

[Alix McAlpine]

I think. Oh, this is a really tricky question because I feel like I. I can recount. So before we relaunched last year, we had an. Our ad business was active from 2018 to 2020. And I became so confident in My ability to make a successful ad out of anything. At that time, there was a gift that we made for rei. They have their Act Outside campaign where they encourage people to recycle and go outside. And we made a GIF out of literal footage of trash and added text to it, put it against the right search terms, and it did well, and people engaged with it. So I would say there are a lot of things that brands can do to adapt what they're already working with into gifs. I think treading carefully with the authenticity thing is important. Making sure that you're not trying to force a certain phrase onto something like a mismatch from a caption to the expression. One of our best practices that comes into play a lot when we work with entertainment brands where they are working with a lot of existing footage, is not having kind of two scenes or like an exchange and one gif. It really needs to be like one message at a time because you have to think if people are searching to say one thing at a time, but other than that, have a ball. I think gifts are. It's. We can really make anything work. And there's so many conversations that can be had with gifts. So it's. You can do more things right than you can do wrong as a brand.

[Jeremy Goldman]

Then the very fact that you're able to demonstrate some kind of sales uplift, I think is great because there are so many executives where if they don't understand something, but they are willing to look beyond that to be like, but we can see that it's actually going to work, then they will lean in and they will observe and they'll try new things. Because I think everybody's really trying to break through the clutter in some way, shape or form. They don't want to do the same campaigns as every other competitor.

[Alix McAlpine]

Definitely. You just have to think about how unique it is that your brand can show up in people's conversations. And for every share, which is one of our main metrics is this engagement metric, we consider a click, an intent to share. You can imagine that that went in a comment or a conversation and got seen by more people. So I think the thing about GIFs is that they're advertising with Giphy. It's very unique to the platform. Nobody else is kind of doing this GIF advertisement. So it's almost kind of hard to explain in simplicity. It's just like it's visual expression.

[Marcus]

What's next for the company?

[Alix McAlpine]

Good question. We're working a lot right now to kind of make sure that we're working with our clients to meet their needs with kind of the new measurement stuff, like really exciting studies that we talked about, but kind of the more bread and butter that they might be looking for. Every vertical has its own kind of measurement study and we're adding functionalities like geotargeting. But we're also testing ads internationally because GIPHY is global. So right now we're testing in Mexico and Brazil and we're hoping to add ads in Canada and UK in the next couple months.

[Marcus]

Very nice. That is what we have time for, unfortunately. Thank you so much to my guests for hanging out with me today. Thank you first to Jeremy.

[Jeremy Goldman]

It's a pleasure as always.

[Marcus]

And then to Emmy.

[Emmy Liederman]

Thanks for having me.

[Marcus]

Thank you to Alix.

[Alix McAlpine]

You're welcome.

[Marcus]

And thank you to the whole editing crew. Victoria, John Lance and Danny Stewart runs the team and Sophie does our stuff. Social media. Thanks to everyone for listening in to behind the Numbers email podcast made possible by giphy will be back on Monday talking about AI attitudes. That's attitudes towards AI. Okay. Not artificial intelligence. That has an attitude like Henry who's going to be on the episode thought happiest of weekends. Except Henry because of his insane assumption. Hope you yours is fine.