Sonic makes a date with Twitter users via emojis
While Sonic Drive-In was among numerous brands to participate in last week's World Emoji Day, the fast-food chain's emoticon depiction of a couple on a date more successfully pinpointed the playfulness and consumer engagement that social media events can offer.
July 17 marked the annual World Emoji Day, but it was not all fun and games, with brands such as GE, Sonic, McDonald's, Anheuser-Busch and Chick-Fil-A working hard to attract Twitter users to their stores through playful emoji scenes and posts. Emojis offer an abundance of lighthearted marketing possibilities through consumer interest, increasing positive brand sentiment and driving sales by grabbing the attention of social media users through content they enjoy.
"Getting involved in World Emoji Day allows GE to continue to elevate its Emoji Science program and reach new audiences of science, tech and emoji enthusiasts," Sam Olstein, global director of innovation at GE. "Over the past year and a half, emoji have been significantly integrated into GE's social content.
"In December 2014, Emoji Science and the Emoji Table of Experiments came to life as an interactive Snapchat campaign," he said. "In 2015, Emoji Science has expanded into an evergreen franchise to simplify scientific principles using emoji, such as translating science headlines into emoji as GE did on World Emoji Day.
"Storytelling with emoji in completely new ways can create buzz and engagement while also humanizing a brand. As an innovative global science and technology company, GE constantly strives to find unique ways to tell its story. GE's Emoji Science is a fun, relatable and informative way of translating science around a variety of topics that are important us."
Happy Emoji Day
Twitter was inundated with posts regarding World Emoji Day on Friday. Consumers, brands and retailers alike took to social media to have fun with the day, causing the hashtag #WorldEmojiDay to start trending quickly in the morning.
Sonic was among one of the numerous retailers to attempt to drive traffic to their locations. The retailer posted various emoji scenes on Twitter featuring a couple eating at a Sonic location.
The male character asks his girlfriend if she is hungry and wants to go to dinner, and she responds with emojis. Once sonic is mentioned, the girl is happy.
The fast food chain even challenged users to surpass its talent, announcing that ten of the best emoji scene creators will win a post in Sonic?s special club. The retailer is getting the thought of its products into consumers? minds, and by doing so implants the idea of visiting locations and driving in store sales.
Another fast food retailer, Chick-fil-A also instilled the thought of their products in Twitter users? minds by sharing posts with explanations of what iOS emojis mean. The retailer shared tweets of emojis paired with definitions catered towards its brand.
For instance, the first definition shared a common iOS emoji in which a young woman is shown raising a bent hand; the actual definition of this emoji has been widely discussed through social media since its inception. Chick-fil-A ended the debate with its own definition explaining that it means the individual got a Chick-fil-A mini and still made it to school on time.
A following post showed that the smiley face with hearts for eyes is a reaction for when someone is asked to visit the fast food retailer.
McDonald?s got in on the fun simply by explain it loves World Emoji Day solely through emojis.
GE incited a guessing game for consumers by alluding to a scientific event, in which users had to decipher a string of emoticons.
Also, Bud Light recreated their Up For Whatever campaign with emojis as well.
GE incited a guessing game for consumers by alluding to a scientific event, in which users had to decipher a string of emoticons.
Also, Bud Light recreated their Up For Whatever campaign with emojis as well.
Emoji innovations
Retailers and brands have been cognizant of the pull of emojis and are constantly introducing emoticon use into marketing and driving sales.
Recently, Old Navy introduced a summer campaign that put a new spin on emojis with a mobile-optimized site that predicted shoppers? perfect pair of flip-flops based on their icon use (see more).
Also, Domino?s continued to lead the way in innovating the digital ordering experience, with its latest strategy promising to enable customers to order a pizza in seconds using an emoji on Twitter (see more).
Final take
Brielle Jaekel is editorial assistant at Mobile Marketer
"Emoji have become as ubiquitous as the mobile devices they are used on, so entering that conversation on World Emoji Day allows Bud Light to connect on a level people understand and use frequently," Azania Andrews, senior director of consumer connections at Anheuser-Busch. "Emoji are fun and spontaneous, so they complement the Bud Light #UpForWhatever campaign perfectly.
"If you do not have a response for these special holidays, big or small, you are missing out on a way to spark a conversation with your fans," she said. "It is fun for people, and for brands such as Bud Light, to experiment with emoji.
"We are all using the same character-based alphabet, but the options for combining emoji in new and different ways to create unique messages is endless. It is the ultimate self-expression."
Final take
Brielle Jaekel is editorial assistant at Mobile Marketer