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Doing Things Media

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Doing Things Media is a company specializing in memes and social media content. It was founded in 2017 and was headquartered in Atlanta before opting for permanent remote work.[1][2][3] As of 2022, the company has 25 social media meme accounts with over 65 million followers across Instagram and other platforms.[4] It is a rival of FuckJerry.[3]

Origin

The company was founded by Reid Hailey and Derek Lucas in 2017 after both founders had developed large followings for posting internet memes on Instagram. Reid Hailey created an Instagram meme account named @Shitheadsteve in 2014, while taking college classes at the University of Alabama.[3] The account to one million followers in less than a year, and Hailey created other accounts such as @Trashcanpaul and @Gamersdoingthings. He dropped out of college. Hailey met his future co-founder Derek Lucas after Lucas created the meme account @ChampagneEmojis is 2015.[5] Both Reid Hailey and Derek Lucas dropped out of college.[3] Lucas starting a medical-marijuana delivery service before co-founding Doing Things Media.[3]

Hailey and Lucas were part of a group message that called itself the Meme Illuminati. The chat included meme accounts and celebrities including Chris D'Elia, John Mayer, and B.J. Novak.[2][3]

Work

Paper Magazine writes that "the overall theme of what makes it onto any of their meme pages seems to be 'nostalgic wholesomeness' — humor that somehow doesn't offend anyone because the stereotypes they joke about are so deeply benign." As of 2020, 30% of the company's revenue comes from e-commerce.[3] In addition, Doing Things Media makes money from subscription content and TV production and sponsored ads that resemble memes.[6][7][8] Doing Things Media has a TV show on Nat Geo Wild called "Animals Doing Things" based on their @AnimalsDoingThings account. Howie Mandel is its narrator, executive producer, and director.[2] The company wrote a book called Doggos Doing Things based off of its @DoggosDoingThings account.[2] “We are always thinking about how to turn our social presence into a product," co-founder Reid Hailey told The Hustle. "Can we make a game? Can we make a beverage?”[9]

Middle Class Fancy

Doing Things Media acquired the brand MiddleClassFancy in 2018.[10] In 2021, MiddleClassFancy teamed up with Guy Fieri to release a limited-edition burger at Fieri's ghost kitchen called Guy Fieri's Flavortown Kitchen.[11]

All Gas No Brakes

In 2019, Andrew Callaghan became a full-time content creator for Doing Things Media after the company's co-founder Reid Hailey saw one of Callaghan's videos. “I was like, ‘Yo, if you guys buy me this R.V., I'll make a sick show out of it and it'll be a cultural exploration of America,’” Mr. Callaghan told Vice in January 2021. “That's how it started: I convinced a company to buy me an R.V.”[12][1] The New York Times reports that Doing Things offered Callaghan a $45,000 salary in addition to equipment and production costs. Doing Things also hired Callaghan's longtime friends, Nic Mosher and Evan Gilbert-Katz. All Gas No Brakes got traction on YouTube in late 2019 and throughout 2020. Revenue from the show's Patreon was split so that 20% went to Callaghan, 20% went to other show members, and 60% went to Doing Things Media. In May 2020, the company signed a development deal with Abso Lutely Productions for a TV series based on All Gas No Brakes.[13] The relationship eventually soured between Callaghan and Doing Things Media, with the company encouraging him to focus on “party content” rather than news and, at one point, locking him out of the All Gas No Brakes social media accounts.[1] Doing Things threatened to fire the three-person All Gas No Brakes team if they did not create two two pieces of Patreon content by March 1, 2021. They refused, and Callaghan refused to hand over the show to a new host.[1] They were fired in March 2021.[1]

Recess Therapy

Doing Things employee Julian Shapiro-Barnum, whose original job entailed editing dog videos, started a video series called Recess Therapy in which he interviews children.[14]

Controversy

Doing Things Media faced criticism for posting sponsored content about Mike Bloomberg's presidential campaign across twelve of the company’s pages.[15] According to Reuters, Doing Things Media founder Reid Hailey said it was "a creative decision, rather than an endorsement of Bloomberg."[16] Other meme accounts, such as those affiliated with FuckJerry, also promoted Bloomberg.[17]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Lorenz, Taylor (2021-03-23). "He Had an R.V., a Camera and a Plan to Document America. Was That Enough?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
  2. ^ a b c d "The Meme Illuminati: Behind Instagram's Comedy Empire". PAPER. 2020-09-15. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Brown, Abram. "These College Dropouts Have Built A Fast-Growing Business Creating Viral Ads That Look Like Memes". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-04-15.
  4. ^ Brown, Abram. "Doing Things Media, Owner Of Many Popular Instagram Meme Accounts, Raises $21.5 Million Series A". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-04-15.
  5. ^ "Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with the Team at Doing Things Media". Pop-Culturalist.com. 2020-07-27. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
  6. ^ Schiff, Allison (2020-10-14). "Doing Things Media Helps Memes Make It Onto The Media Plan". AdExchanger. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
  7. ^ kumar, Amit (2021-08-19). "Latest Instagram Marketing Techniques For 2021 v1". protocols.io. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
  8. ^ Brown, Abram. "These College Dropouts Have Built A Fast-Growing Business Creating Viral Ads That Look Like Memes". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-04-15.
  9. ^ "'All Gas No Brakes': The inside story of the internet's favorite interview series". The Hustle. 2020-11-21. Retrieved 2022-04-15.
  10. ^ "Speaker Details: SMWLA 2021". event.adweek.com. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
  11. ^ Martin, Kalea (2021-08-19). "Guy Fieri Teamed Up With A Famous Meme Account To Create A New Burger - Mashed". Mashed.com. Retrieved 2022-04-15.
  12. ^ Documenting America's Underbelly - ALL GAS NO BRAKES, retrieved 2022-04-15
  13. ^ Ramos, Dino-Ray; Ramos, Dino-Ray (2020-05-20). "Tim Heidecker & Eric Wareheim's Abso Lutely Productions And Doing Things Media Enter Development Deal For Internet Series 'All Gas No Brakes'". Deadline. Retrieved 2022-04-15.
  14. ^ Berk, Brett (2022-02-11). "In Search of the Meaning of Life? Meet Me at the Monkey Bars". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-05-15.
  15. ^ Graham, Megan (2020-02-13). "How Mike Bloomberg's meme blitz was engineered to go viral". CNBC. Retrieved 2022-04-15.
  16. ^ "Bloomberg campaign pays social media accounts for memes". Reuters. 2020-02-13. Retrieved 2022-04-15.
  17. ^ Wright, Megh (2020-02-13). "FuckJerry and Other Meme Accounts Are on Bloomberg's Payroll Now". Vulture. Retrieved 2022-04-15.


Category:Instagram accounts Category:Internet-related controversies


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