Meat and Memes: How Slim Jim’s Long Boi Gang Surged to 1.2 Million Members

The ubiquitous snack brand grew its modest following by tapping into an already passionate community

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They call themselves the Long Boi Gang. This self-described internet cult is well over 1 million strong and spends its days rallying around dank memes, inside jokes, the foibles of dating—and, of course, meat sticks.

Meet the Slim Jim fan army, which has seen explosive growth on social media since early 2019 in large part thanks to the work of agency 180 New York.

The agency tapped into a goldmine of preexisting devotees, a strategy that catapulted the brand from “a well-known convenience store stable with a modest following” to a massive, highly engaged brand community with a distinctive and engaging voice.

The Long Boi Gang rises

Neither the brand nor the agency dreamed up the “Long Boi” moniker.

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