The Purple Tornado

The ladies of the Purple Tornado have infiltrated Boston for ROFLCON - the “congress of the internet memes” taking place for the first time at MIT. Not only is Purple Tornado attending, we are one of the sponsors.

Here are our 10 reasons that we have made the trek all the way from the West Coast to ROFLCON:

1. See the birthplace of xkcd.
2. Young proto-geek college dudes. (just for looking!)
3. Boston’s famed “HOT NUTS”
4. Peanut Butter Jelly Time
5. We have too much surplus “ass” so we’re here to ROFLMAO
6. Find out to turn One Red Paperclip into a house - and a BOOK
7. Discover more about the Stuff White People Like
8. Hit up as many Friday college happy hours as possible
9. LOLCATS FTW of course
10. On the real - we are here because we are internet denizens too - and inhabit the dark corners of the interwebs that only the twisted, perverse and digitally native see.  We are here because we celebrate the lurkers who spend their time in forums rather than social networks, and because we know that the true heart of the internet is in the uncensored self-expression of people who are brave enough to let their freak flags fly.

As unconventionally-minded marketing professionals, we also know that MEMES rule the world. Most advertisers and marketers aim to emulate the natural viral influence of internet memes, striving to artificially create these virii and push them onto unwilling hosts in their “target markets.”

As for me, I believe that LOLCATS can sell anything. (Or perhaps it is just that I would buy most anything with a Lolcat on it.)  But the whole point of the meme as a virus is that the host must be infected willingly, and replicate (link) willingly - and that kind of opt-in doesn’t always translate into the “conversions” that clients are looking for.  You can’t control the spread of a real meme. You can’t even own it. A meme is a behavior or an idea that intrigues and catches fire when released into the wilds of the internet.

We’ll be getting lots of video coverage for Boingboing tv - and if you want to follow us on Twitter as we traipse around Cambridge - follow twitter.com/carmenleilani and twitter.com/heathervescent!