A Wink and a Nod ;-)

Branded emojis have become a hot marketing trend. MillerCoors triggered the wave, with a set of emojis it introduced prior to the 2014 football season.

More recent entrants to the space are Ikea (despite some criticism), GE (which created a cool Emoji periodic table for Snapchat users), Mentos (they aren’t emoticons, they’re ementicons). In China, Oreo rolled out emojis that could be customized with your child’s face.

Perhaps this is just a fad, who knows? But it is a clever way for a brand to actively connect with consumers digitally. As Dillini Fernando, the digital marketing manager at MillerCoors puts it, “You’re not only able to inspire the conversation, to be part of the conversation, but a lot of the time, we were the topic of the conversation.”

By the way, if you are into this sort of thing, this article delves into the history of emojis. (They go all the way back to Abraham Lincoln. Sort of.)