LAST CHANCE:

12 passes left to attend the Digiday Publishing Summit

SECURE YOUR SEAT

Brands have discovered the ‘Damn Daniel’ meme

It’s hard to keep up, but there’s a new teenager the Internet is obsessing over.

His name is Daniel Lara, a high school student from California, who’s the center of the latest viral video called “Damn Daniel.”

Admittedly, it’s easier to watch than explain, but turn the volume down.

Here it is:

The clip, which are several Snapchat videos stitched together, was tweeted by his friend Joshua Holz, who playfully harasses his friend with the phrase as a way to troll his friends’ outfit and white Vans. “Damn, Daniel,” Josh screams. “Back at it again with the white Vans!” 

Since being uploaded on Feb. 15, the original tweet has racked up 263,000 retweets and 330,000 likes.

Not surprisingly, now brands are glomming on to Daniel and his Vans because the Internet won’t let us have nice things. Axe, Zappos, Clorox and even a British football team have all deployed the phrase:

Vans also took notice and posted an inexplicable poll that’s garnered 145,000 votes:

The company hasn’t yet returned a request for comment.

More in Marketing

Inside Estée Lauder’s $14 billion reset: AI, brand trouble and a travel retail retreat

Estée Lauder’s $14 billion turnaround is underway, driven by AI, e-commerce expansion and a strategic brand reset. Here’s what’s working — and what’s still at risk.

Ignoring political noise, TikTok works to shore up place in organic social hierarchy

The platform wants to remain a key tool for organic activity of brands like McDonald’s and Poppi, even as it helps to draw paid investment.

Walmart finds its cushion in advertising as tariffs bite

Walmart has a plan to stay profitable as President Donald Trump’s tariffs push up costs. It’s called advertising. In the second quarter, Walmart’s ad revenue jumped 46% year over year, a number padded by the addition of Vizio, the smart TV maker it picked up last year. Strip that out, and the U.S. business still […]