We’ve all seen Buzzfeed-style quizzes that promise to tell us which Friends character or Disney princess we have the most in common with, but pop culture doesn’t work when it comes to creating a quiz for business, right?
Actually, it does, and we have several pop culture quiz examples to prove it.
There’s more opportunity to include pop culture references and trends than ever before, mostly due to popularized GIFs, viral videos, and digital media streaming services.
While some pop culture trends are here today and gone tomorrow (like the infamous white and gold versus black and blue striped dress debate), you can utilize other references that will work for the long term.
That is, if you’re willing to think outside the box.
The secret to creating a successful pop culture quiz is to choose trends and references that fit your brand personality. Your quiz is meant to solve their problems or at least start the relationship with an engaging experience that also resonates with your audience.
How do you decide which pop culture trends to include in your quiz and how much of it is enough? The first step is to look at other quiz examples to see what resonates most with you.
8 pop culture quizzes to inspire your own
Each of these Interact quizzes has a unique pop culture marketing strategy behind it, making it a great place to start for new quiz creators. Which strategy is the right fit for you and your audience?
Should you choose a well-known trend that will immediately connect with your audience? Would it be better to choose celebrities and public figures that your audience gravitates toward? Maybe you’d rather include pop culture references in one element of the quiz rather than the whole quiz.
No matter what you choose, it’s helpful to look at other examples from business owners who are already utilizing pop culture in their quizzes.
Sign up for an Interact account to start building your own quiz.
Now, let’s dive into some of our favorite pop culture quiz examples from our Interact community. They might inspire your next big idea!
Which sassy slogan tee are you?
We like how Slightly Shirtee incorporated pop culture marketing into nearly all of their quiz questions and answers. As an eCommerce shop in a very saturated market, the team knew they had to somehow differentiate their product while giving their audience a list of personalized t-shirt recommendations.
That’s how their sassy quiz was born!
In a world where popular slang words are always changing, quizzes like Slightly Shirtee’s example are ahead of the curve. By only using a select few sassy slogans that their Millennial and Gen Z audience has loved for years, they’ve created a quiz that’s easy and delightful for all of their quiz takers.
Here are a few ways that Slightly Shirtee has infused pop culture into their quiz:
- By having quiz takers choose the emoji that best fits them. With a younger audience, they know that everyone who shops on their website will not only know what an emoji is but will already be using them in their text messaging.
- Use a GIF that is widely known that your audience members will recognize. Stick to GIFs that people commonly share on social media or create from actors, actresses, musicians, or other celebrities.
- If you asked most people what their guilty pleasure is, it might be binge-watching their latest show on Netflix. Fitting this pop culture theme, Slightly Shirtee asks quiz takers what their favorite show to binge is in order to provide the most accurate sassy slogan result.
- Lastly, the brand asks which hashtag each quiz taker relates to the most. Since hashtags are frequently used on social media, it’s fun to include it into this question. After choosing the hashtag answer choice, we will pair it up with a tee that has the same sassy slogan on it as an ending quiz result.
Slightly Shirtee doesn’t take themselves too seriously when creating their pop culture quiz, helping them sell more tees and create loyal brand advocates who love wearing their sassy slogans.
Which celebrity entrepreneur are you actually most like?
One of the easiest ways to build a pop culture quiz is to use well-known celebrities in your personality results. Who wouldn’t want to be compared to a powerhouse like Oprah, Marie Forleo, or Shonda Rhimes?
Caroline, the founder of Ideal Clients Daily, features her quiz front-and-center on her website’s homepage. After reading her headline that focuses on how she helps business owners start their business from scratch, she introduces the celebrity-influenced theme of her quiz in the description.
Her bright yellow call-to-action (CTA) button stands out against the dark background, telling her audience where to go next if they want to discover which celebrity they are most like.
Once someone clicks on the button, they will be directed to a landing page with the embedded quiz. We love that Caroline doesn’t wait until the very end of her quiz to utilize her celebrity theme! Instead, she uses pop culture GIFs to add more personality to her quiz experience. Women taking the quiz will love seeing celebrities they recognize as they move through the quiz.
After completing the quiz, people will receive their quiz results through a personal video from Caroline. The quiz result title lets people know which celebrity they are most like, but to learn more about why they received that result, they must watch the video.
Delivering your personality results through a video gives people the opportunity to connect with the face behind the brand, which just so happens to be you! People don’t connect with logos in the same way they connect with other humans. That’s why it’s important to show your face throughout your website and your quiz.
As the quiz taker hears more about why they’re like Mark Zuckerberg in the example above, they’ll be more likely to want to learn from Caroline and implement their new knowledge into an area of their business that needs refining.
If someone clicks on the purple call-to-action (CTA) button after watching the video, another landing page will redirect them to show another video with a form to sign up for a free discovery call with Caroline.
We like how Caroline was able to create an enjoyable and simple quiz-taking experience from start to finish that accomplishes her main goal, which is turning quiz leads into paying clients.
You can take a similar approach with your quiz by including celebrities in your personality results or incorporating pop culture GIFs. If you need more inspiration, check out this next pop culture quiz example.
Which celebrity entrepreneur are you?
While the title of this quiz is similar to the previous example from Caroline, there are some key differences between the two. This celebrity-inspired quiz from entrepreneur and podcaster Stephanie Ann Bagley features four well-known entrepreneurs with gorgeous illustrations.
The interesting thing about Stephanie’s quiz is that she doesn’t let you see the illustrations right away. Did you notice on her quiz page that they’re all covered up by colored question mark graphics? Quiz takers create more intrigue and suspense by doing this.
When someone takes Stephanie’s quiz, they’ll quickly realize that most of the questions don’t have to do with pop culture at all. Instead, it collects data based on the audience member’s habits, work style, desires, and more. She can use this data to create even better content for her community.
Only one question in the whole quiz asks about celebrities. The answer options don’t include any of the possible quiz results which keeps them as a mystery. Quiz takers will find a range of celebrities they can choose from that are similar to the final results but not exactly like them.
After completing the quiz, the quiz taker will go to a landing page (like this) that shows off the illustration for the first time along with a deeper reasoning as to why the person is like their paired celebrity. We love the design of these pages!
If the celebrity result doesn’t feel like the perfect fit, Stephanie also gives her audience an opportunity to look through the other celebrities on a separate landing page that looks like this:
These custom celebrity illustrations really elevate the look and feel of Stephanie’s entire quiz. This is a fairly obvious example of how you can include pop culture into your quiz, but how else can you take popular themes and weave them into your quiz content?
Let’s look at the next example for inspiration.
What is your brand personality?
The concept of helping entrepreneurs understand their brand’s personality seems simple enough, but psychology-driven brand strategist Kaye Putnam took it a few steps further with her brandality quiz.
Taking inspiration from the famous twelve archetypes from the book The Hero and the Outlaw, Kaye set out to create a quiz that helped her audience members figure out what archetype they fit into without them needing to read the book.
One of the best moves Kaye made was applying the psychological archetypes to the world of business branding. While it took her a long time to create quiz result landing pages for all twelve types (which she doesn’t recommend doing now), her audience has been pleased with the results.
Kaye brings more pop culture into her quiz by including recognizable celebrities and fictional characters who fit each archetype in each result. In the Creator example below, she lists Natalie Portman, Don Draper from Mad Men, Adele, and Neil Caffery from White Collar as characters that fit the archetype.
Since Kaye launched the quiz about two years ago, over 100,000 people have taken the quiz and it’s generated over $100,000 in course revenue. It’s one of the best success stories we’ve seen, and it came from a pop culture quiz. Read more about Kaye’s story.
Although the book was published over fifteen years ago, business owners like Kaye have made the twelve archetypes a more well-known pop culture theme through their quizzes. Other businesses like Hoot Design Co. and Inktank Printing Group have used the same twelve archetypes in their own quizzes.
Think about how you might use a pop culture theme and infuse it into your quiz marketing. Can you take a personality test that people are already familiar with, like Kaye did with the twelve archetypes?
For more inspiration, here’s another pop culture quiz example from an entrepreneur who did the same but with the Enneagram.
What is your Enneagram leadership type?
Tianna Tye is a psychologist and leadership coach who teaches other entrepreneurs how to embrace their leadership based on their key strengths. One way she does that is by offering an Enneagram-themed quiz.
Over the last few years, the Enneagram has gained more popularity than ever before. With podcasters creating Enneagram-based episodes and Instagram accounts with tongue-in-cheek Enneagram memes, it’s become a popular trend and business owners are using it to create better content.
As a quiz taker moves through Tianna’s quiz, they might notice that the Enneagram structure is showing with nine points. This represents the nine types of the Enneagram system. It’s a common map that shows how all of the types connect, as seen on The Enneagram Institute’s website.
If someone taking the quiz has seen the Enneagram structure before, they’ll immediately know they’re in the right place if they want to learn about how it relates to their leadership.
Instead of giving basic leadership advice, Tianna infuses the nine Enneagram types into—you guessed it—her nine possible quiz results.
By answering a set of twenty-one questions with two answer options each, quiz takers will discover not only what Enneagram type they are but also how they can use that knowledge in their leadership development.
Think about how you can infuse pop culture into your quiz topic. What themes have been inspiring you lately? How could it relate to your quiz topic? There are always creative ways to work more pop culture into your quiz.
What’s your Top Knot style?
Pop culture isn’t just about celebrities or fictional characters. You can also include well-known fashion and beauty trends to make your business quiz stand out.
For Kendra, the subscription box creator and business educator behind the Kendra, INC. brand, it was important to incorporate the top-knot bun trend into her quiz. Since she named her business community the Top Knot Tribe, she felt like creating a pop culture quiz around the same theme for her eCommerce shop was the perfect fit.
Although Kendra ultimately teaches other entrepreneurs about business-focused topics, she uses a familiar hairstyle trend in her community to better connect with her audience. It also makes the quiz more fun and enjoyable.
To learn more about her audience’s preferences, Kendra uses questions like the one below to ask about where they love to shop. This data helps Kendra create and select better products for her curated subscription boxes.
After someone finishes the quiz, they’ll get their top-knot bun style description along with an offer to download a freebie that relates to setting business goals in the same style that they wear their hair.
From start to finish, this quiz provides a creative way to incorporate a trend into a quiz that businesses usually use for other purposes.
What kind of Goalden Girl are you?
You might see the title of this quiz and think it’s a typo, but it’s actually spelled correctly for this quiz from Lisa Michaud, the creator of the Goalden Girls community.
If you’ve ever watched the popular television show The Golden Girls, you might have made the quick connection between Lisa’s quiz title and the show. Since Lisa’s mastermind and community helps other female entrepreneurs achieve their goals, this title makes sense.
Lisa shows that you don’t have to weave pop culture themes into every facet of your quiz content to be successful. You might just want to get creative with your quiz title or another element of your pop culture quiz.
After someone completes the quiz, the Goalden Girls four-month long mastermind program will provide them with an answer on whether they’re the right fit. For anyone who is on the fence about making the investment, the quiz will give them the reassurance they need to become a member.
Using a quiz to sell your coaching or consulting services is a great marketing strategy. Including a dash of pop culture just adds more fun to the whole process!
What gemstone fits your personality?
Like the example above, you don’t need to include pop culture references in every question to make it a success.
Peggy Houchin, a jewelry designer who particularly loves working with turquoise, wanted to create an online quiz to help her shop visitors discover what gemstone they like most. Through her quick six-question quiz, Peggy gives gemstone recommendations based on her audience’s answers.
When taking the quiz, her visitors will encounter a question that asks what famous entertainer they’d like to meet. Each celebrity correlates to a gemstone type based on the public figure’s personality traits and style.
She also adds answers with stock images so it’s even easier for her quiz takers to choose their best option. At the end of the quiz, each quiz taker will receive a gemstone recommendation from Peggy along with a button that directs to a piece of jewelry made with the gemstone of choice.
Peggy’s quiz is a great example of how to use pop culture marketing without distracting from the main goal of the quiz, which in her case is to sell more of her jewelry. She also has the opportunity to educate her audience about each gemstone while creating a fun quiz experience for all.
Get started with your own pop culture quiz
To review, here are some of the best ways to create a pop culture quiz
- Use popularized GIFs your audience will love
- Include celebrities and public figures for more “star” quality
- Make personality results based off of likeable fictional characters
- Utilize image-based answers and stock images when it makes sense
- Infuse pop culture trends into the main theme of your quiz
- Edit your quiz title, questions, or answer copy based on pop culture references
Now it’s your turn!