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🔎POV: You once bought something from Charles Tyrwhitt

Good afternoon from a grey rainy wet London. Today you're going to get a 5 minute lesson in memes. If you've ever pretended to know what a meme is but not truly understood the power of them, or why they work...this one's for you. First we'll explain why Memes work. Then we'll be reviewing a viral Linkedin post which was simply a meme. By the end of this email you'll be a Meme expert. Let's get into it.

November 14, 2025

“POV: You once bought something from Charles Tyrwhitt”

View the post here.

Introducing: Henry Hayes.

Memes work because they're the internet's shorthand for "me too" and they spread like wildfire for very specific reasons:

1. Zero friction to consume You get the joke in 3 seconds. The faster someone "gets it," the faster they share it.

2. Instant social currency When you share a meme, you're saying "I'm part of this club." You're signalling to your mates or your feed that you get the reference and you've had this experience too. It's a cultural handshake.

3. They hijack existing emotions Memes borrow from films, TV shows, or moments already burned into our brains (like that Harry Potter scene). You don't need to create the emotion as it's already there. You just redirect it. That's why they hit harder and faster than original content.

4. Low effort, high reward for the sharer Sharing a meme makes you look funny, relatable, or clever without having to write anything yourself.

5. They validate feelings people didn't know they could express Most people experience the same annoyances, observations, or absurdities but they don't have the words (or can't be bothered) to articulate them. A meme does it for them.

TLDR: Memes are effective because they're fast, emotionally pre-loaded, and built for sharing. They let people express themselves without effort and bond over shared experience without saying a word. That's why they dominate.

🔥 THIS WEEK'S VIRAL BREAKDOWN

The Post: ‘POV: You once bought something from Charles Tyrwhitt’

The Numbers: 1,095 reactions, 95 comments, 2 reposts

Why it blew up:

This went viral because it turned a shared annoyance into a moment of recognition.

Everyone who's ever bought a shirt from Charles Tyrwhitt knows what happens next… catalogues. Endless catalogues. Through your letterbox, week after week, until you're drowning in them.

The 3-part viral formula:

  1. It stops you in half a second - The moment you see those letters flying through that Harry Potter letterbox, you know exactly what's coming. If you've lived it, you're already laughing. If you haven't, you're curious enough to watch. Either way, you don't scroll past.

  2. The visual does all the work - That scene from Harry Potter is already lodged in everyone's brain. It's chaos, it's relentless, it's overwhelming. Matching it to the Charles Tyrwhitt mail situation is perfect because it captures exactly how it feels. You don't need words. You don't need explanation. You just get it.

  3. It makes people feel seen - When something annoying happens to you repeatedly, you start to think "is this just me?" This post answers that question instantly: no, it's everyone. That validation makes people tag their friends, leave comments, and share it everywhere. It's funny, yes, but it's also proof you're not alone.

Your steal-this-now tactic:

Call out a specific, slightly annoying thing that loads of people experience but rarely talk about. Pair it with a famous meme that captures the exact emotion. The formula is simple: hyper-specific situation + universally known meme = instant connection. People share things that make them feel understood.