That was my first real wake-up call to the sheer madness of Memecoin Mania.
Since then, as someone who’s spent the past few years knee-deep in crypto recruitment—from blockchain protocol teams to DeFi start-ups and now, memecoins—I’ve watched a fascinating trend emerge. While the devs build the tech and the founders pitch the dream, it’s the marketing folks who are increasingly making bank.
Sounds wild, right? Let’s dive into what’s really going on.
Memecoins Live and Die by Hype
Unlike traditional Web3 projects, memecoins don’t sell on utility—they sell on vibes.
And who creates those vibes? The marketing crew.
We’re talking meme-makers, community managers, social media wizards, and narrative shapers. If your Telegram isn’t buzzing, your X (Twitter, yeah I still call it Twitter) isn’t viral, and your Discord isn’t a chaotic, emoji-filled mess—your memecoin is dead in the water.
I recently helped a project hire a Head of Marketing whose only job was to craft daily memes, drop spicy takes on Twitter, and manage a small army of anonymous meme interns. The guy’s background? He used to run a niche fitness meme page. No crypto experience. Just a flair for virality.
Now he’s pulling in $15k/month, and the project’s market cap went from $300k to $12M in under 6 weeks. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
Traditional Marketers? Time to Get Weird
Here’s the thing—memecoins don’t follow the usual marketing playbook. SEO, funnel building, and “brand storytelling” are nice and all, but if you’re not native to the culture, you’ll flop.
I’ve seen amazing B2B marketers try to break into memecoins, only to be completely out of their depth. Meanwhile, some of the top earners are pseudonymous accounts with Pepe profile pics and a sixth sense for what’ll go viral.
That said, I’ve also seen a few traditional marketers crush it—once they embraced the chaos. One ex-FMCG marketer I placed at a frog-themed memecoin went all in. She studied meme culture, started shitposting, and even created her own on-chain meme index as a community stunt. The result? A 4x in community growth and a front-page feature on CoinDesk.
So yeah, if you’re coming from Web2—ditch the KPIs and start thinking in memes.
The Rise of “Founding Marketers” in Memecoin Teams
One of the most interesting shifts I’ve noticed is the elevation of marketing roles to founding-level status.
A year or two ago, devs and product leads were the MVPs. Now, I’ve worked with memecoin teams where the Head of Marketing is the first full-time hire—sometimes before a single line of code is written.
Why? Because in the world of memecoins, it’s not about what you build—it’s about what you sell people on.
I placed a marketing lead at a now-infamous cat-themed coin (you probably saw it trending on X last month), and the team literally said, “We’ll build the product if the meme sticks.” That’s a complete reversal from the usual “build first, market later” mindset.
It’s risky, sure. But in the current cycle, it’s working.
From Jokes to Jobs: Memecoins Are Legit (Kind Of)
Let’s be honest—memecoins are ridiculous. Most of them have no utility, no roadmap, and no reason to exist… other than the lulz. But they’ve also created some very real opportunities.
For marketers, especially those with a flair for humour, timing, and community building, memecoins offer a playground where creativity really pays off.
I’ve placed candidates in roles that pay in six figures (USD), with bonuses in tokens that 10x’d before vesting. I’ve also seen some flame out spectacularly—usually when the meme dies or the project gets rugged.
The volatility is real. But so are the wins.
If you’ve got the stomach for it, marketing in the memecoin space is like a high-stakes game of social alchemy—and right now, it’s paying off big time.
What’s Worked (and What Hasn’t)
Let me share a few quick hits from my own recruitment trenches:
What’s worked:
- Hiring meme-native marketers who genuinely live on X and Discord.
- Giving marketing leads full creative control (and budgets for guerrilla campaigns).
- Prioritising speed—memes have a half-life of hours, not days.
What hasn’t:
- Forcing traditional PR or influencer playbooks.
- Overthinking brand guidelines (memecoins don’t have brand books).
- Hiring marketers who want “long-term stability”—this ain’t that.
Memecoin Mania isn’t just about people making silly coins and getting rich—it’s reshaping how we think about marketing in crypto.
If you’re a marketer who’s always felt a bit too weird or too online for the traditional 9-5—this might just be your moment. And if you’re a founder launching the next animal-themed coin? You’d better hire your meme lord before you hire your solidity dev.
I’ll leave you with this: in the current cycle, memes move markets. And behind every viral meme? A marketer who’s absolutely smashing it.
So yeah, Memecoin Mania? Big win for marketing.
