The meerkat strikes again.

We follow Aleksandr Orlov on Twitter, so I noticed yesterday that he (!) was quite chuffed that his catchphrase "Simples!" was used in hit E4 show The Inbetweeners.

Series 3 of The Inbetweeners had been eagerly awaited by many after gradually building up a huge army of fans, and Channel 4 had certainly been hyping the start of the new series. I noticed several references to Monday nights episode on Facebook status' and it was marked as a "trending" topic on Twitter.

So for a price comparison website to have hit such a marketing pinnacle as to be referenced in a much-loved show is quite an achievement! Just when you think the meerkat has maybe done his thing and the buzz is over, you're reminded that they did enough, and did it very well, that they've implanted a catchphrase into the British vocab. For a while anyway.... I wonder how long it'll stay around?

In 10 years time will we have a quiz show called "Simples" like we have "8 out of 10 Cats"? (And do many members of the younger audience of the Jimmy Carr programme know that it's named after a cat food marketing campaign?)

The Compare the Meerkat campaign is a great example of modern day marketing, using the Internet and social media, print and TV advertising to create a fun mascot that has entertained the nation. Whoever can say they came up with the idea should have a safe job in marketing for a long time to come!