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Verizon celebrates Jingle Ball by quizzing Twitter users with emojis

Verizon is revolutionizing the classic game Charades and retaining its place as a key player in mobile innovation through a contest in which users must decode secret messages on Twitter. 

As part of its iHeartRadio?s Jingle Ball sponsorship, Verizon is giving away free tickets to this week?s winner of its emoji-decode contest. The tech giant is announcing a winner from those who were able to decipher Twitter posts written only in emojis, depicting specific songs to coincide with the concert in an attempt to grab the attention of top 40 music fans. 

"By illustrating a campaign around emoji?s and music, Verizon and IHeartMedia can successfully reach a wide array of young millennials who utilize emoji?s frequently on social media," said Guillaume Lelait, general manager at Fetch. "Four in 10 millennials would prefer to converse with emojis at times when it is accessible to them. 

"Millennials also share songs across top music platforms frequently," he said. "Brands who are receptive to millennials communication practices and music preferences are gaining rewarding exposure and engagement."

Jingle Ball is iHeartRadio?s annual concert tour showcasing a wide range of the year's top musicians. 

Dancing with emojis

The contest was publicized through iHeartRadio?s media properties, as well as Verizon?s social media pages, to reach a wider audience. 

Twitter users took to Verizon?s page to decipher a variety of messages composed with only emoji symbols and lacking any words. Participants then had to guess the song name Verizon was trying to explain, similar to the game of charades. 

For instance, one message showed a plane, a black circle and a red heart, which alluded to the song Jet Black Heart by 5 Seconds of Summer. Another post displayed a snowflake, the number four and a beach umbrella, meaning Cool for the Summer by Demi Lovato. 


The contest is a part of Verizon?s Wednesday call-to-action campaign named Why Not Wednesday, in which the brand shares multiple innovative contests and campaign fun with followers. 

The winner of the Jinglemoji contest will be picked from a variety of those who accurately deciphered the messages. 

Verizon mobile innovations 
After years of jockeying for a bigger role in mobile advertising, Verizon is throwing serious money behind its aspirations, spending $4.4 billion deal for AOL several months ago and, in September, another $250 million to boost the digital platform?s mobile play by buying Millennial Media (see more). 

Also, Verizon announced a mobile-first Netflix-like service for live and on-demand programming, appealing to advertisers, but bringing in the growing cadre of young cord-cutters could be a tougher sell (see more). 

"Taco Bell recently launched their #tacoemojiengine campaign which has given the brand not only great publicity, but also recognition as a brand that truly understands the needs of millennials," Mr. Lelait said. "Taco Bell strategically placed this campaign around the release of the Taco emoji which has made them even more relevant than ever on social media. 

"The significance behind the emoji campaign lies with the saying, that in order to truly understand your audience you must be able to speak their language," he said. 

Final take
Brielle Jaekel is editorial assistant at Mobile Marketer