Emojis have taken over the world. Evolving from the humble emoticon – ;-) – they have now become ubiquitous in 21st-century communication. Facebook revealed in 2017 that an average of 5 billion emojis are sent on it’s Messenger tool every single day. There’s a World Emoji Day (July 17th, in case you were wondering). There’s even an emoji film.
In 2015, Oxford Dictionaries made the ‘Face With Tears Of Joy’ emoji their Word Of The Year. Emojis are everywhere, and they’re not going away.
How Many Emojis Are There?
The first set of 176 emoji was created by Shigetaka Kurita for mobile phones and pagers in 1999. Each was just 12 pixels by 12 pixels. Today there are 2,823 emojis and Kurita’s original 176 are on permanent display at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. The organisation that looks after the international language that is emojis is called Unicode Consortium. A not-for-profit based in California, they decide what can and can’t be an emoji. If you fancy yourself as an emoji creator, you can even submit your own emoji design to them.
Using Emojis In Advertising
So common are emojis that in recent years a few companies and organisations have run emoji-only advertising campaigns. McDonald's was the first of the world’s superbrands to try it, with most commentators giving the campaign favourable reviews.
Customising Products With Emojis
There’s no limit on what you can do with the emoji. Consider customising your promotional merchandise – from logo printed t-shirts to custom tape measures – with emojis for a fun campaign that gets people talking.
