Advertisers seek to exploit emoji boom
Print Edition
EVERYONE speaks emoji, and now advertisers do too.
Catching on to the digital era’s cross-cultural language of choice, advertisers have learned to speak emoji in a world where promotional videos are ignored and ad banners are blocked.
Tiny digital pizza and French fries icons, and pictures of animals and planes are being used to advertise fast food, airlines and even NGOs.
Emoji characters have become at least as pervasive as smartphones, and users are moving away from communication platforms that allow advertising toward networks that don’t, said Marie Dolle, a digital media content specialist at Kantar Media.
In their online advertising campaigns, the World Wildlife Fund charity and Domino’s Pizza have tapped into the bank of emoji icons universally approved by the Unicode Consortium, the non-profit group that develops and maintains digital standards.
In May, McDonald’s launched its own digital stickers package that allows users to put pictures of burgers, sundaes and chicken nuggets into their Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger or text messages.
Disney and Duracell have commissioned Feeligo, a Paris-based startup, to create their brand stickers. Last winter, Duracell’s iconic pink bunny was shared 20 million times alone.
Swedish furniture giant Ikea also launched an emoji range depicting its products earlier this year.
Emoji advertising is just as much about communication and having a sense of humor as it is about branding.
“Stickers have to represent emotions. A logo doesn’t work by itself,” said Feeligo co-founder Davide Bonapersona, whose campaigns have spread to several European countries and which often cost clients less than traditional formats.
“Depending on the target, we are looking at 20,000 (US$22,000) to 100,000 euros,” Bonapersona said.
United States-based Swyft Media and Asian messaging apps Line and WeChat share the niche market with Feeligo.
The latest advertising trend is mainly logo-free, giving emoji users on both ends of the chat more freedom.
“Users are saturated with publicity ... emoji is less aggressive, it’s not intrusive,” Dolle said.
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