Emojis have been around since 1998 when Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo introduced the emoji keyboard to its i-mode platform and the millennials at the time adopted them - ironically at first, but then wholeheartedly. Since then they have spread globally and increased in popularity. It’s hard to imagine a digital world without them now.
Popular social media platforms are also embracing emojis in new ways. Earlier this summer, Twitter announced the launch of ‘emoji targeting’ on its ads platform via API partners. What’s the scope of opportunity for brands and how can they use the ability to more deeply understand consumer sentiment and intent from emojis to build stronger relationships with users who speak this language?
A recent study by Deep Focus found that four in ten Millennials claim they would rather engage with pictures than with words. With opportunities to engage with Millennials across channels and devices, emojis are often used to enhance communication with tone of voice and emotions in a visual, concise and effective way. This is a universal language without barriers, and it has plenty of room for growth.
Even before targeting was brought into the mix, brands have already enjoyed some early success in using emojis in advertising. McDonald's pushed out adverts entirely in emoji in 2015, and Domino’s even allowed users to order a pizza by simply tweeting the pizza slice icon. Targeting will add a new layer of sophistication to advertising and give brands the chance to explore emojis for story-telling and engagement. Relevance, however, is still a crucial ingredient for success.
We know Millennials are more likely to install ad-blockers and reject traditional advertising methods, but this does not mean they are anti-advertising. They are a generation that understands the online value exchange better than most demographics. The key to unlocking that willingness to engage with a brand is contextual relevance – deliver content that is relevant, interesting, important and informative to them in real-time.
And with innovation in marketing technology, brands can dive deeper than ever to extract value out of audience insights by also being able to measure when emojis are used and what the sentiment is. Sentiment can provide an additional layer of understanding around audience interests and context that can inform media activation.
Analysing emojis, advertisers can inform how they target audiences across channels who have recently used or engaged with content featuring emojis. An ice cream brand, for example, can target those who have used an ice cream icon or a smiley face with sunglasses, because they are more likely to be in a receptive mindset for ice cream products. Emojis provide brands with an additional means to tap into the mindset of their audiences.
With the familiarity and visual nature of emojis amongst Millennials, the scope of opportunity for brand advertisers to use emoji data and insight is massive. Leveraging emojis to make digital advertising more relevant is now being supported by the wealth of tools made available by major platforms with the ability to reach users across mobile, social and video, which should further encourage brands and agencies to explore new ways to use this visual language to communicate, connect and deliver meaningful messages to Millennials.
By Sam Wade, VP of commercial partnerships EMEA at Amobee
Want to keep up with the latest ideas in digital marketing? Free conference and exhibition Integrated Live is the place to be.
PrivSec Conferences will bring together leading speakers and experts from privacy and security to deliver compelling content via solo presentations, panel discussions, debates, roundtables and workshops.
For more information on upcoming events, visit the website.
comments powered by Disqus