Spanning 236 episodes over 10 seasons, Friends is one of (if not the) most recognisable sitcom of all time. Not only was it a massive hit on its release, but continues to be to this day – with Netflix paying over $100 million to maintain the rights back in 2018.

Years of Buzzfeed quizzes of “which Friends character are you?”, a seemingly never-ending line of merchandise and well over 32 million hours streamed on Netflix – it’s the show that will never truly finish.

Now, it’s time to answer the question you’ve all been wondering: “Which Friends character belongs to each marketing department?”

Phoebe

This was the easiest and most obvious one by far; creative and someone who thinks outside the box, Phoebe firmly belongs to branding.

Whether it’s her “unique” songs, her running method, carrying her brother’s triplets or her short-lived name change, she knew how to stand out from the crowd and be seen.

Branding/design is a key part of any marketing team/strategy and do much more than “make things looks nice”. A branding team may:

• Develop your logo, a key part of your brand’s identity
• Have the best eye for imagery, ensuring all materials look as they should
• Develop your colour palette as having the correct colour palette plays a huge part in a brand’s image
• Create videos or animation – extremely useful marketing tools to help stand out from the crowd and have your message heard.

Ross

While he may not have learnt from his many divorces, Ross was a scholar at his core. Whether it was his true love of palaeontology or simply teaching, Ross loves everything about learning and research. This is why he’s firmly placed within the content team.

While he may have made some questionable choices in his time (the leather trousers, the white teeth, or the god-awful fake tan), Ross is an intellectual who would thrive researching topics and creating unique content about it.

The content team is another key part of any marketing department or project, producing unique content for blogs, guides, newsletters and more. The content team are able to work wonders, turning otherwise dull topics into exciting must-read articles.

Not only this, but they need to research these topics, ensuring all information provided is factual while still engaging.

Monica

Never has there been a more suitable role for someone than Monica and strategy.

The woman eats, breathes, and sleeps strategy. Whether it’s making over the top wedding plans for a close friend, making the bed in the most specific way, or ensuring the apartment is cleaned just the right way.

Rarely will a strategy ever go to plan, and Monica has shown that she’s able to adjust when required (even if not doing so happily). She was able to make adjustments for her own wedding to ensure they kept the band, and when she helped save Ross and Emily’s wedding in London.

The importance of strategy goes without saying, however there’s more than meets the eye.

Strategy starts at the very beginning, helping create a plan to reach the required objectives. A strategy also helps discover these objectives, create a starting point, monitor along the way to keep things on track, as well as pushing things back on course when required.

Without a strategy, no project would be possible.

Rachel

If Friends was set in the present day, I have absolutely zero doubts that Rachel would be Instagram obsessed. Which is exactly why I’ve placed her in the social media team.

Rachel is a woman who needs to be up to date. In today’s world she’d be following all of the top designers to know what’s “in”, keeping up with every trend. She also has no problem working hard when it’s something she’s passionate about.

Although, it’s absolutely vital she’s never let near a kitchen after that trifle.

While not every project may need a social media arm, social media can play a huge part in others. Whether you’re looking to do PPC advertising over Facebook or LinkedIn, or you’re simply looking to share recent posts and updates on your business, social media is a very handy tool in your arsenal.

There’s much more to it than simply typing a few posts out and sharing too. Those that work in and around social media need to keep on top of how the algorithm is ever-changing, know which audiences to aim for, know when to post and what to post and much more.

When using social media, it’s vital that it’s done right.

Chandler

Always on hand for a joke, Chandler is many people’s favourite. Between his one liners, his hopeless ventures in romance and his loyalty to his friends, he’s impossible not to love.

He’s a core part of the group, and the show wouldn’t have worked without him. But, we spent years never knowing what he did, which is exactly why I’ve placed him in the digital team.

The digital team are a vital part of marketing teams, ensuring websites run smoothly but outside of developers no one really knows what they do. They work in a mystery language (various code) that not many understand, but the results they produce are fantastic and are needed by everyone.

Whether they’re building an entire new website, landing pages for campaigns, fixing issues with websites or otherwise simply keeping things together in the background, they’re vital for nearly every single modern marketing project.

Joey

While Joey is a faithful friend, he’s never been the best worker in all truth, whether that was abandoning his post at the coffee shop for an audition, or simply failing to show up for an audition.

However, there was one thing that Joey did love, and that was food. So, let’s simply pop him in the kitchen and leave him in his happy place.

Get in touch

If you’d like to find out more about how our cast of experts can help you take your marketing to the next level, we’ll be there for you (sorry).

Email hi@theyardstickagency.co.uk or call 0115 8965 300.