Here’s the summary of the third of our 2016 Trends: ‘Emojinal intelligence’.
Emoji – digital images or icons that express ideas or emotions are becoming the language of the mobile phone.
For the young in particular, emoji represent the language of now and opportunity. Emoji give them the chance to express their emotions creatively. Emoji are the language of authenticity, so it is only natural that brands will try to communicate in a way that is in line with how real people communicate.
Emoji made their international debut in 2011 and usage was limited to emoticons focused on human emotion, e.g. the smiley face or sad face. Now we can choose from a total of 800 emoji. Oxford Dictionaries’ Word of the Year 2015 was a ‘Face with tears of joy’ emoji, and it was chosen because the ‘word’ best reflected the ethos, mood and preoccupation of 2015.
This new language can transcend cultural and geographic boundaries, but it lacks the ability to provide context. Unicode (the group that chooses emoji and sets the standards) reports that some people are not interpreting the characters correctly – at least by its definition. People are making up the rules as they go along.
Emoji marketing success hinges on more than just concept and execution. It requires ‘emojinal intelligence’ based on knowing your audience, the types of content that are suitable for emoji use and how you want your audience to feel. Brands will increasingly use emoji for utility. The World Wide Fund for Nature, for example, worked the symbols into a Twitter fundraising campaign that encouraged consumers who routinely use emoji of endangered animals to donate to its conservation efforts. Domino’s Emoji Ordering allows consumers to bypass the traditional ordering process by tweeting a pizza slice emoji. Domino’s zeroed in on the emoji that embodies its brand and made it pertinent to the customer experience.
Click here for a summary of ZenithOptimedia’s 2016 Trends: Empowering the Mobile Consumer, and a link to the full report.
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