According to a study by Brands2Life, 41% of consumers surveyed believe inappropriate or insensitive emoji use can damage a company’s reputation, with 42% feeling they’ve formed connections with brands because of emoji use to display humour.

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Meanwhile, half of frequent TikTok users said improper emoji use could hurt a brand’s reputation, with 36% saying they would stop purchasing from a brand which did not use inclusive emoji’s on the platform.

A further 37% added they would unfollow the brand on social media for that reason.

Brands2Life Managing Director of Digital, Social & Influencer, Kinda Jackson, said: “Emojis have become a language on their own, but meanings can shift across cultures and demographics.

“Brands must consider inclusivity and consistency with emoji use to avoid unintended interpretations.”

This comes as 31% of 18-34-year-olds said they would be turned off a brand for overusing emojis, compared to just 22% of those 55 and over.

Jackson added: “The use of emojis is not just about business representation; it’s about making your audience feel genuinely included on social media and creating a space on your channels where everyone feels welcome.”

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Polling has proved a successful feature within the Instagram community, and the emoji slider aims to capitalise on that popularity and provide users with a new way to engage with each other. Users can ask followers a wide variety of questions, which can then be answered by sliding a chosen emoji to the level they want. Like the poll sticker, followers will be able to respond as part of the Stories feature, and see the current average of how others have responded.

To add an emoji sticker within Stories, users select from the sticker tray after taking a photo or video. It can then be placed anywhere within the image or video, and both the question and the emoji customised. Friends and followers can respond to the slider as soon as its shared.

The new feature, which will be released as part of Instagram version 44 in Apples App Store and Googles Play Store today, is the latest addition by Instagram aimed at boosting engagement among its users and competing with rival service Snapchat.

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UK consumers may enjoy sending emojis back and forth with friends and family, but they don’t appreciate when brands use the graphics in marketing messages in the slightest.

According to a survey of 2,045 UK adults, conducted by YouGov and commissioned by email marketing software firm Pure360, 75 per cent of people use emojis in their messages to family and 77 per cent to friends. Despite this, only five per cent said they are likely to buy from a brand that uses emojis in its digital marketing.  

39 per cent of respondents said that brands appear less serious when they use emojis, while 29 per cent believe the use of emojis devalues a brand. Interestingly, 36 per cent of 18 to 24-year olds believe emojis devalue a brand compared to just over 25 per cent of those aged over 55.

It was also fond that only seven per cent of UK consumers think emojis make a brand look more human, while just one per cent think emojis should replace written words completely.

“The arrival of the latest batch of emojis and their prevalent use by Brits in messages to friends and family will have heightened marketers’ curiosity as to whether they can help a brand better engage today’s UK consumer,” said Komal Helyer, marketing director at Pure360. “However, our research shows that the jury is still out on brands use emojis in their marketing efforts. As with any marketing mechanic, the use of emojis by a brand comes down to knowing the audience and understanding what they will react well to and react badly to, as a demographic.”    

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As expected there will be stunts carried out throughout the day across the globe, along with special emoji sticker packs to support the day – such as Lewis Hamilton’s Hamoji stickers – and new look at The Emoji Movie, due to be released worldwide at the end of the month and beginning of August.

One such event is London’s Royal Opera House tweeting throughout the day, telling the story of famous operas and ballets through the use of emojis. iTunes Movies took a similar approach, urging fans to guess the emoji-described movies and then discover them on iTunes.

Over the weekend, people from across the world helped set a Guinness World Record for the largest number of people dressed as emojis simultaneously. In addition to all of the above – perhaps the biggest news – it’s David Hasslelhoff’s birthday as well!

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The report, using data from Leanplum and App Annie, found that of over 2.6bn push notifications analysed emoji-powered notifications were better received. It also found that Android emoji push notifications have higher open rates than iOS ones – with Android emoji notifications being opened 135 per cent more than notifications without, compared to iOS’s 50 per cent increase.

Furthermore, it was found that emojis can increase conversions. Emojis that were A/B tested in push notifications led to a nine per cent increase in in users who clicked the notification’s call-to-action. The same emojis led to a 28 per cent lift in day two retention.

“Improving re-engagement and retention are two of the most impactful ways that publishers can get the most out of their apps,” said Amir Ghodrati, director of market insights at App Annie. “When you see examples of emojis helping to contribute to a 28 per cent increase in day two user retention, that goes a long way toward increasing the lifetime value of every single download for those apps. Its important for mobile marketers to note how significant push notifications, and the creative methods that go into driving users back to apps, will continue to increase interaction.”

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While the Unicode Consortium, the computer industry body which dictates, among other things, which emojis make the cut, has yet to respond to Durexs #condomemoji campaign, the brand has held a global poll in order to decide on an unofficial safe sex emoji, which it also hopes will raise awareness of the risks of unprotected sex on World AIDS Day.

After a global poll of 3,500 consumers, Durex has declared Open Umbrella with Raindrops as its safe sex emoji. The symbol received nearly a quarter of all votes, beating out rivals including Heavy Large Circle and Helmet with White Cross.

“At Durex, we believe that for this World AIDS Day, identifying the unofficial safe sex emoji is an important step that helps to empower young people to put safe sex back on the agenda, supporting the fight to reduce the spread of HIV and AIDS,” said Volker Sydow, global category director at Durex. “We are asking people to show their support for the cause by using this unofficial safe sex emoji and sharing the hashtag #CondomEmoji.”

A survey by the brand found that almost half of 16 to 35 year olds felt that HIV is not something that could ever affect them, despite the fact that 36.7m people globally were living with HIV in 2015, and 2.1m people were newly infected with the virus during the last year.

More than 60 per cent of young people surveyed admitted to being uncomfortable discussing safe sex with their partners. 72 said they found it easier to express emotions using emojis, with 90 per cent agreeing that an official condom emoji might help them talk more openly about safe sex.

Durexs campaign was promoted in 17 countries, including France, Spain, Ireland, India, the UK and US, with the brand using social media to spread its message among consumers, with a particular focus on young people.

“Safe sex awareness continues to be an important global challenge,” said Tewodros Melesse, director general of the International Planned Parenthood Association. “We support Durexs campaign in helping make young people think about protection. On World AIDS Day, we will be backing this effort to help raise awareness of the risks associated with unprotected sex.”

“Last year we used the campaign as a platform to re-educate people in the importance of practicing safe sex, at the same time demonstrating to Unicode the need for a safe sex emoji,” said Sydow in an interview Mobile Marketing Magazine. “Due to the volume of support we received and after Unicodes decision not to introduce a safe sex emoji this year, we conducted a global poll and invited participants to vote for the emoji.”

“The channels through which young people communicate continue to evolve, and as a result this impacts the way in which they discuss sex. We want Unicode to reconsider and introduce a safe sex emoji to aid these conversations and raise awareness of the need to practice safe sex.

“A large portion of our consumers use digital channels to communicate and as a result we have also had to adapt. As the global leading condom brand we had and have an important role in making sex more protected and educating consumers about safe sex. But we only achieve that if we reach our consumers in the ways they communicate, and we believe the introduction of a safe sex emoji is one step closer to doing that.”

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The Bitmoji app enables users to create an avatar which can be used to create customised comic strips – and now, by linking up to their Snapchat account, to send stickers featuring a cartoon version of their own face in a pre-set pose to friends in chat or overlaid onto photos. If the recipient has also linked their account, theyre also able to send a friendmoji sticker featuring both avatars.

Its not clear yet whether Snapchat has any plans to monetise the stickers, either by selling them to users or offering sponsored packs, but its presumably hoping to cash in on the Bitstrips acquisition somehow.

Don’t forget to enter the Effective Mobile Marketing Awards. The Early Bird deadline for submissions is 22 July. More details here.

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Rather than simply releasing an emoji keyboard, however, the media giant has launch a mobile game called Disney Emoji Blitz, a Candy Crush Saga-style matching game where players gain access to the emoji by completing levels.

The app will be available for free on Android and iOS, and the emojis will include both character faces displaying a variety of emotions, and symbols and icons associated with Disney properties or the brands as a whole.

Disney also recently launched Disney LOL on iOS and Android, a new child-friendly app where users can access Disneys short-form social content such as GIFs, Vines, short-form videos and non-episode content from Disneys considerable media empire, including the Disney Channel, Disney XD, Star Wars and Marvel.

“Our audience engages when we interpret classic Disney stories in new ways, with bite-sized, shareable pieces of content relatable to all ages,” said Michael Hungden, director of content strategy and editorial for Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media. “By bringing Disneys social content into the Disney LOL app experience, were making it possible for all audiences to access this engaging content.

“Were creating content for digitally-native families every day, and these new experiences offer Disney stories and characters in formats that are familiar to our audience and on the devices they use most.”

Don’t forget to enter the Effective Mobile Marketing Awards. The Early Bird deadline for submissions is 22 July. More details here.

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The icons, which range from branded cups to a unicorn enjoying a coffee, can be used in SMS, emails and a variety of messaging platforms including Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and iMessage.

Starbucks says it will change the emoji on offer throughout the year. With the focus on the iced frappuccino in this initial release, presumably this will tie into seasonal promotions – so expect to see a range of red cup emoji as the year approaches its end.

Starbucks Keyboard is available on the App Store and Google Play Store, but the user reaction so far hasnt been too hot. At time of writing, the app has an average rating of three stars on both stores, with users particularly complaining about the need to manually copy-and-paste the icons into messages in order to send them.

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As part of the campaign, the departments stores social media channels will replaced all their text and imagery with Emojis, as will elements of the brands websites, encouraging consumers to interact using the colourful symbols.

Followers on Twitter and Facebook will be asked to crack codes made up from a sequence of Emojis which symbolise a romantic comedy film, with successful entrants earning an exclusive 10 per cent discount to spend online, while the brands social media team have translated some of the most famous love stories throughout the ages into Emoji, which will be shared as video clips.

“Emojis have become such an integral part of the way people communicate on their mobile phones,” said Aaron Foster, head of PR, social media and events at House of Fraser. “One symbol is sometimes all you need to get across exactly what you want to say. We wantd to try something less traditional for Valentines Day this year in order to engage with a younger audience.”

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