In celebration of World Emoji Day, we’ve taken a look at just how the popular picture form has evolved, and how it’s changing the way businesses communicate.
Did you know …
-Emoji is a Japanese word for ‘Picture Letter'
-The first emoji was created in 1999
-6 billion emojis are exchanged every day
-More than 90% of social networking users communicate with emojis
-The Oxford Dictionary selected the “Face with tears of joy”/ Laughing face” emoji as the WORD of the year in 2015. Cut to 2019 and it’s still the most commonly used emoji
-The other most commonly used emojis are the “Smirking” and “Flush face”
-There is an existing ideology that one day, the emoji will replace text as the primary method of content production
But just how big a role do emojis play in how we communicate?
Emojis are such an integral part of life; institutions are now examining how they convey meaning through psychological research. They are also now an area of interest in NLP research (Natural Language Processing) – examining how we exchange information, both in-person and online.
Vyvyan Evans, author of ‘Emoji Code’, and expert in communications and cognitive linguistics, explains that these icons can reproduce digital versions of almost all the human connections that exist.
But how do emojis translate into business and advertising in the digital age?
According to Blog Hub Spot, emojis are a successful tool for businesses, as they boost engagement, click through rates and open rates. The article highlights how emojis have given personality to many brands, with the ability to “convey what words can’t”, building sentiment.
Durex is a great example of a company who have harnessed the power of emojis. Through market research, they uncovered that 60% of young people are not comfortable discussing safe sex. The solution? 72% find it easier to express emotions through emojis.
In response, Durex developed a promotional campaign for the creation of a condom emoji through the change.org platform.
The result? They created a dialogue raising the awareness of safe sex, which in-turn increased brand awareness and positive recognition.
Watch their campaign ad here:
Another impressive feat was from Domino’s Pizza, who introduced a chatbot feature to allow their customers to order pizza through a single pizza emoji!
Keen to chat more with one of our Social & Digital Experts on bringing your brand to life through emojis?
Get in touch or join the wider conversation on social media…
#WorldEmojiDay
