January's New-Years-letter
Happy New Year! To kick off 2023, we are excited to recap all the holiday content we made and shared throughout the month of December. We would like to say thank you to our clients and business partners, and we look forward to creating and collaborating with you all throughout 2023.
HANUKKAH LIGHTS 🕎
We would like to wish a Happy first day of Hanukkah to all those who celebrate! Users can pretend to blow on the screen to light the Menorah. Scan the snapcode or click the link below to try “Light the Menorah”!
Follow us on Snapchat @baretreemedia and tune in to see all the new and exciting AR content we will be releasing to Snapchat in the coming year.
LIGHT THE MENORA
PUT YOUR UGLY SWEATER ON 🧶
For National Ugly Sweater day on December 17, our AR team created a voice-activated, interactive try-on lens featuring ugly sweaters designed by BTM team members. We even created a BTM-themed sweater!
Click here or scan the snapcode to try “BTM Ugly Sweater Lens!"
SEASONS GREETINGS WITH SAMSUNG ❄️
What better way to celebrate the holiday season than with some Samsung Themes? We collaborated with a number of brands to bring some holiday cheer to Samsung Galaxy users’ devices. See them below.
The Smurfs Christmas Cheer
Papa Smurf, Smurfette, and crew are bringing the Christmas spirit to your Samsung devices. This theme is perfect Christmas customization. Click here to download the latest Smurf theme from Galaxy Store.
Betty Boop Loves Christmas
We love the holidays almost as much as Betty does! Betty invites Galaxy users to get into the holiday spirit with her latest Samsung Theme. Click here to download “Betty Boop: Loves Christmas” from the Galaxy Store.
Garfield Christmas With Friends
Gather by the fireside and around the tree with Garfield and friends this holiday season. Make messaging the ones you love this holiday season even more festive with the “Garfield: Christmas With Friends” Samsung Theme, available now in the Galaxy Store.
IN OTHER NEWS 📱
Spotify Wrapped is the most wonderful time of the year for music listeners around the world! Twitter users flocked to share how they listened throughout 2022 and when liking any tweet with the hashtag #SpotifyWrapped, they could trigger a fun design. It was truly amazing to witness how many Twitter users engaged with our branded like on the wrapped release date.
It’s time to get holly and jolly with the Golden Girls! Dorothy, Blanche, Sophia, and Rose will keep your friends “laughing all the way” with their holiday sticker pack. Click here to find it in the Galaxy Store.
We're Growing The Team! 🌱
We are currently hiring for the following positions within the company:
If any of these sounds like you or someone you know, send a resume and portfolio link to info@baretreemedia.com.
December's Newsletter
To kick off the month of December, we are excited to recap all the creative content we made and shared throughout the month of November in this issue of our newsletter. We would like to say thank you to our clients and business partners for their endless support and flexibility. We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Check out our social media pages in the next few weeks for some ho-ho-holiday surprises. Our pages will be filled with fun and festive content to celebrate the most wonderful time of the year!
✨ ENCHANTED WITH DISENCHANTED ✨
Raise your hand if you are an OG Enchanted fan (all of our hands are raised *very* high)! Our team had the wonderful opportunity to collaborate with Disney to design eight animated stickers for the release of Enchanted’s sequel, Disenchanted. We loved seeing our favorite characters—Giselle, Robert, and Prince Edward—come to life.
Click the link below to see them all on Walt Disney Studios’ official GIPHY page and be sure to catch Disenchanted on Disney+.
WALT DISNEY STUDIOS GIPHY
KEEP CALM AND TWEET ON 🗣
What better way to kick off the holiday season than with Twitter branded likes? See our Twitter Feed for some of the work that was designed and released this month.
#TheSantaClauses
Scott Calvin is now on TV! Our design and animation teams had the opportunity to create a branded like to promote the premiere of Disney’s newest holiday mini-series, the Santa Clauses. By liking any tweet with #TheSantaClauses, Twitter users watched Scott Calvin transform into Santa in just a matter of seconds.
#GlassOnion
Who doesn’t love a good mystery? This branded like had fans of Knives Out (and Chris Evans) excited for the November 23rd premiere of the franchise’s newest installment, Glass Onion.
#SpreadingChristmasCheer
Our animation and design teams helped European grocery brands Lidl, Tesco, and ASDA get creative in promoting products and deals for the upcoming holiday season. Each brand’s custom design was attached to a unique trigger hashtag. ASDA even got a little help from everyone’s favorite, Buddy the Elf.
THANKFUL FOR THEMES 📱
We are oh so thankful that we get to design themes for well-known brands. This month, we collaborated with Betty Boop and Dungeons and Dragons to bring fans some custom theme designs. Click the links below to download “Romantic Rebel” and “DND: Stacked Against the Odds” from the Galaxy store today.
D&D STACKED AGAINST THE ODDS
BETTY BOOP: ROMANTIC REBEL
#VOTE 🇺🇸
November 08, 2022 marked midterm elections in the United States. This Instagram camera effect encourages not just our fans but everyone to get out and vote. To vote for a change, every voice matters. Find our "Vote for a Change" filter on Instagram Camera or on our effects page.
FREAKY FREEBIE 🎃
Halloween may be over, but for our spooky season lovers, we have a freaky freebie for you. Check out Snapchat page @baretreemedia and click here to try
"Pumpkin Head Ghost!"
We're Growing The Team! 🌱
We are currently hiring for the following positions within the company:
Project Manager
2D Illustrator & Animator
If any of these sounds like you or someone you know, send a resume and portfolio link to info@baretreemedia.com.
November's Newsletter
To kick off the month of November, we are excited to recap all the *spooktacular* creative content we made and shared throughout the month of October in this issue of our newsletter. As always, we would like to thank our clients and business partners for their endless support and flexibility, and we hope everyone had a great Halloween!
STUDIO SPOTLIGHT 🔦
Meet Wendy, our summer illustration and animation sprout! Wendy worked closely with our senior illustrator and AR/animation teams to create her own personal sticker pack for GIPHY, Tenor, and iMessage.
We will miss Wendy and look forward to seeing all her future creations! Please scroll down to learn more about the personal project she worked on while
interning at the studio.
“Through Tea for Teaspoon, I got to explore so many of my interests, like character design, complex rigging, and 3D animation. With the help of my coworkers, I was finally able to accomplish my dream of designing my own personal sticker pack, while also challenging myself to learn new skills”
TEA FOR TEASPOON 🍵
Nothing is more rewarding than seeing our summer interns’ projects come to life.
O.M.Tea! Meet Teaspoon—a mighty, fearsome matcha-thief brewing with mischief. Keep an eye out on your own cup, for you never know where he’ll pop up next…maybe even in your messages?! For Wendy’s personal project, she used Maya to create animated 3D stickers inspired by some of her favorite things!
“I thought about the things I love and wouldn't mind working on for 6 months. I settled on matcha, hamsters, and deer. I also drew inspiration from the sticker packs I personally use. Taking all of this into account, I designed 21 silhouettes, narrowed it down to 8 thumbnails, and finally iterated on 1 design. That's how
I ended up with Teaspoon!”
As an animation student at Northeastern University, Wendy was able to explore the entire pipeline—character concept, color, modeling, rigging, texturing, lighting, and animating. She was able to develop marketable skills across multiple disciplines. Her favorite part was getting to design all of Teaspoon’s expressions!
Click the link below to download these 3D animated stickers from the App Store. You can also find them on GIPHY and Tenor. They are sure to last you an oolong time.
DOWNLOAD TEA FOR TEASPOON
IT'S FREE!
HALLOWEENISH HIGHLIGHTS 🎃
Hocus Pocus
The Sanderson Sisters are back and spookier than ever! Our illustration and animation teams had the opportunity to design some animated stickers for their return. Find them on GIPHY, Instagram, and Snapchat.
Put on your best Halloween costume, pour yourself a big glass of witches brew, and watch Hocus Pocus 2, available now on Disney Plus.
Smurfs Halloween Samsung Theme
Are you ready to have a smurfalicious Halloween? Get spooooky with the Smurfs and download The Smurfs: Fright Club Samsung Theme from the Galaxy Store.
Halloween Samsung Icon Pack
Our illustration team wanted to share their love for Halloween with Samsung users. Customize your Samsung device with this Halloween-themed icon pack. Each icon was created by our team and contains a little design with a ghoulish twist! Download from the Galaxy Store today.
KEEP CALM AND TWEET ON 🗣
There’s nothing we love more than designing Twitter branded likes and hashtags for our partners! See our Twitter Feed for some of the work that was created and released this month.
#SmileMovie
Started off spooky season with a smile! Our design and animation teams had the opportunity to create a branded like to promote the premiere of fall’s newest psychological horror film, Smile! Don’t let the smile fool you…(we’d know)!
#IWTV
Fans of the original Interview With a Vampire were in for a treat! Using dark and light mode play, a concept we began to incorporate into our designs at the start of the new year, Twitter users in dark mode now get an extra surprise when they hit the like button. The Interview With a Vampire series is available to watch now on AMC.
#withAMEX
We got to help American Express members get ready for Member Week. By liking any tweet with #withAmex, Twitter users not only received reminders for all the offers and experiences available but also got to see our design and animation skills at work.
#InternationalCoffeeDay
We’d like a cup of that coffee! As the exclusive creator of branded likes for the Middle East regions, we had the opportunity to use our design skills to celebrate Saudi Arabia’s #InternationalCoffeeDay.
BRANDED HASHTAGS #️⃣
Designing Twitter emojis for branded hashtag campaigns brings us joy! Kraft Mac & Cheese, CheezIt, and BRAVO are some of the many brands we did projects for this month. Check out our website to see some of our other Twitter branded hashtag work.
We're Growing The Team! 🌱
We are currently hiring for the following positions within the company:
Augmented Reality (AR) Developer
If any of these sounds like you or someone you know, send a resume and portfolio link to info@baretreemedia.com.
#StickingTogether in the Face of COVID-19
Tough times are upon us. Here at Bare Tree, we are closely monitoring the situation that is developing around the world. We hope everyone is staying healthy, safe and socially distanced. Our team of artists and developers is working remotely continuing to make engaging stickers and augmented reality effects that will hopefully bring some brightness to people’s lives.
As events are cancelled and people are using social distancing to combat COVID-19 continues, many businesses are feeling the strain. Among them are indie artists, many of whom rely on sales at conventions to make their living. Being illustrators, animators and designers ourselves, we want to salve some of the hurt our community is currently experiencing due to cancelled conventions, commissions and projects. Because of this we are opening up our services and expertise to any artists interested in selling their art as stickers for the next 90 days.
Our team will work with the artists to determine what work of theirs would be best as messaging stickers or give tips on best practices for stickers if they choose to create something new. Once the stickers are complete, we will publish them for sale on popular messaging apps like iMessage and Google Play. All ownership of the work will, of course, remain with the artist. The artist will also receive 100% of the proceeds.
We will soon be publishing a separate blog post that will be continuously updated with links to the newly released indie artist stickers, so look out for it and keep checking back. Together, we can support each other and make it through this!
If you are an artist and interested in taking part, please email info@baretreemedia.com with the subject line '#StickingTogether'
Sending hugs from Tod and Sal, a sticker duo created by former BTM Sprout, Amy!
Wimpy Kid Introduces Augmented Reality and Sticker Keyboards
Boston, MA – January 24, 2020 – Massachusetts-based companies Wimpy Kid, Inc. and Bare Tree Media expanded their digital partnership with the introduction of augmented reality social media effects and a global expansion of their stickers within keyboard mobile applications.
“I love seeing fans around the globe engage with the Wimpy Kid brand using our existing emoji-style stickers. This year, we wanted to expand the Wimpy Kid universe and I’m thrilled to have the brand-new augmented reality and sticker formats on major global platforms. I’m really looking forward to seeing where Greg can go with his fans in 2020!” — Jeff Kinney, Author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series
To kick off 2020, Bare Tree Media designed and released three augmented reality effects themed around Diary of a Wimpy Kid 14: Wrecking Ball. The AR effects offer users the ability to insert a swinging virtual wrecking ball into their camera scene and then wreck, record, and share a real world scene of their choice. The AR filters are available to engage Wimpy Kid fans on Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.
“Augmented reality is a great marketing platform for brands to engage audiences and a perfect fit for the Wimpy Kid fanbase to create and share their special moments with a wrecking ball.” — Robert Ferrari, President of Bare Tree Media
Bare Tree Media also expanded their Wimpy Kid-branded digital presence to include digital stickers released within Baidu’s keyboard apps worldwide, including Facemoji Keyboard in the United States, Simeji in Japan, and Baidu IME in China.
“We are delighted to kick off 2020 by launching these stickers with Bare Tree Media and Wimpy Kid, Inc. Now, our keyboard app users around the world can all enjoy Wimpy Kid’s uniquely charming brand of humor when they chat with their friends online.” — Josh Fenn, Senior Marketing Manager at Baidu
About Bare Tree Media
As a pioneer in the digital creative and technology sector, Bare Tree Media enables brands to reach, engage, and entertain consumers through the creation and digital publishing of branded emojis, messaging stickers, GIFs, digital collectibles, metaverse virtual goods, and augmented reality experiences within popular messaging platforms. Interested brands can learn more at www.baretreemedia.com or contact Bare Tree Media at info@baretreemedia.com.
About “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”
More than 200 million copies of the books in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series have been sold globally. Published in 2007, the first book was an instant bestseller and remained on the New York Times bestseller list since its publication and through the release of the fourteenth book. This is more than 686 weeks total!
Published on November 5, 2019, the fourteenth installment in the series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Wrecking Ball, immediately hit #1 on the USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and New York Times bestseller lists.
About the Author
Jeff Kinney is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and a six-time Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Award winner for Favorite Book for his Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. Jeff has been named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. He is also the creator of Poptropica, which was named one of Time’s 50 Best Websites. He spent his childhood in the Washington, D.C., area and moved to New England in 1995. Jeff lives with his wife and two sons in Massachusetts, where they own a bookstore, An Unlikely Story. For more about Wimpy Kid visit wimpykid.com.
Twitter Emoji Campaigns: A Primer
What is a Twitter Emoji Campaign?
Twitter emoji campaigns are a visually smart way to separate your hashtag from other hashtags. As the name may imply, they aren’t permanent additions to a brand’s main hashtag, but rather are centered around a specific campaign that the brand is putting out.
For a price tag of $1M, Twitter will—for 90 days—attach a picture that you provide to a hashtag of your choice (given it doesn’t infringe on anyone else’s IP, of course).
On-the-nose advertisers may remember the tremendously successful #shareacoke campaign, one of the earliest campaigns to combine an emoji with a hashtag. The campaign created waves that led to the immediate introduction of other emoji/hashtag combinations.
The hashtag that launched a thousand twitter emojis
But how worth it really is it invest in a Twitter emoji campaign? Since the #shareacoke campaign debuted in 2015, the number of hashtag/emoji campaigns has skyrocketed up; what value do these little emojis hold that are making them mass hits?
The benefits are threefold:
Create Campaign Hype
Having a visual next to your hashtag will instantly create an association in people’s mind, and creates hype around the campaign. It separates your hashtag from other hashtags that may be similar, and even after the campaign ends, people will be left with the imprint reminder of your campaign. Additionally, it allows the user to create an emotional bond to the campaign that a text-only hashtag simply would not be able to achieve. The reason emojis are so popular is that people connect to them emotionally. Is your campaign cool? Funky? Nostalgic? Whimsical? The Twitter emoji’s art style paired with your hashtag will help determine this and will shape how people perceive the campaign overall. Yea, it’s that important.
Promotes Interaction Around the Campaign
A hashtag creates a quick avenue for a community to be built around the hashtag, and in turn around your campaign. Once again, the visual element greatly helps people quickly recognize the hashtag, so they’ll be able to click on it and begin to interact with others who are also using that hashtag. This creates a feedback loop where those who are interacting with each other build on the conversation and continue to use the hashtag, keeping it active for others to see in their timelines and become interested in!
It Improves the ‘stopping power' of your Tweet
Twitter users cumulatively generate millions of tweets a day, so the average user is scrolling quickly down an array of hashtags. Internally, Twitter refers to tweets and hashtags that hold people’s attention and pause them in their action of scrolling ‘stopping power’—essentially, it’s a level of retention that determines how effective a campaign is going to be in a user’s mind.
Twitter found that the stopping power of tweets with emojis increased by 10%, and if those tweets were promoted, that figure jumped up to 6x their previous impressions.
Case Study: Christopher Robin
For the release of their new movie Christopher Robin, Disney asked BTM to help them with their Twitter campaign, and we were more than happy to oblige! Christopher Robin was a movie steeped in nostalgia, so we definitely wanted to play up that angle and create emojis that felt timeless and resonated emotionally with the user. They actually had five hashtags, one for each of the ‘major” characters in the movie as well as one for the movie title:
Lovingly rendered above are #Pooh, #ItsPiglet, #Eeyore, and #Tigger! All for Disney's #ChristopherRobin!
This was one of our first Twitter emoji campaigns, as well, so we were very excited and curious to see how it would fare. The thought was that users would have an emotional reaction to the characters’ faces and thus use the hashtags because of it.
Once the hashtags were live, we monitored the hashtags to see how they were doing. Sure enough, almost immediately we began seeing tweets that reflected nostalgia beyond what we even expected. Some users were tweeting specifically for seeing the hashtag characters!
So for your brand’s next ad campaign, consider utilizing the power of Twitter emojis! And if you need someone to help you out, hit us up!
Pushing your Headlines into the Spotlight
The Challenge
It’s every brand’s dream to stand out amongst the crowd, and every marketer’s goal to help their brand achieve that dream.
In today’s world of exponential technological breakthroughs, marketing strategy has by necessity been evolving to complement—the Internet is the newest frontier for marketers looking to expand their brand. However, changes in marketing aren’t always revolutionary; sometimes, even little changes have a large impact on a brand’s identity and tone, and thus, the relationship with their consumers.
Pop-up and targeted ads, a long stalwart of advertising and marketing, have become taboo so companies are now looking to the next best strategy. People don’t want to be sold things anymore; in the new, transparent age, they’re looking for genuine connection.
The Solution
What does it take to connect to an audience? The answer may be simpler than you think:
Emojis!!! 😁😂❤️🌮🔥👍🤠
Emojis are ubiquitous in today’s world; which means there’s one for any demographic you’re looking for. They come in different skin tones, in a huge amount of objects, places, and even in travel symbols and signs. They add personality to otherwise-bland text and catch the attention of the community your brand is trying to appeal to because they’re connecting to the image on some emotional level.
Which one of these catches your attention the most?
Emojis are also the perfect way to show HOW you are saying something; emojis can be used ironically and sarcastically, which in itself helps frame the brand’s relationship with their consumers: are they cool and edgy? Professional? Fun? There’s an emoji for that! There is no genre barrier: apps like CNNMoney have fully adopted emojis, with over 50% of their push notifications including at least one. In general, companies who’ve been early on the trend and incorporated emojis into their notification headlines have already received tangible, data-driven results. According to a study conducted by the entertainment platform LeanPlum, consumers open push notifications with emojis 264% more often than those without. Email subject lines that include emojis are opened 66% more, and applications that incorporate emojis receive a 26% lower uninstall rate.
Which one of these jumps out at you?
In short, emojis drive engagement. There is no aspect of a company’s goals that can’t be improved by adding a little emotion to help their consumers connect to them on an emotional level; whether the goal is to get hits on a webpage or sell a product, emojis can unify and enlarge your audience and their retention of your content.
The Takeaway
Emojis aren’t going anywhere; Twitter emoji campaigns, which allow brands to publish an image in tandem with their hashtag, have caught fire and are only picking up traction. Platforms like Slack allow users to upload their own, specific emojis so people can message in-jokes to each other. Emoji use and variance is evolving, and the farsighted brand will take measures to ensure that in a world where brands emote, they aren’t seen as ❄️☠️💤.
Decrypting the Emoji Code
In the modern mobile world, everyone knows what an emoji is. There’s a “standard set” of emojis we’re all familiar with that are available whether you’re using your iPhone, Android, or computer device, with new ones rolling in and even personalized-to-app emojis.
However, do you ever stop to think about how new emojis are added, or who even came up with the old canon? They’re just there; one day they weren’t, and the next day they were! Read onwards and have the mystery of the Emoji Code unraveled!
The Set Canon
Designer Shigetaka Kurita invented the emoji in 1999 to circumvent NTT DoCoMo’s message-character limit (at the time, 250, a la early Twitter). He drew inspiration from picture-based Chinese “Kanji” characters and, armed with a 12x12 grid, created the first set of emojis using common expressions and thoughts he felt were relatable and cute (and would save textual space!). This set was immediately introduced into most of Japan’s mobile products, but their competitors soon took artistic license and released emojis of their own; copying Kurita’s expressions but rendering them in a different style.
Shigetaka Kurita, NTT DOCOMO. Emoji (original set of 176). 1998–99. Software and digital image files.
Gift of NTT DOCOMO Inc., Japan
Initially, this caused quite a bit of chaos and miscommunication because a user of one company’s emoji could not see any other another company’s emoji. However, in 2005 carriers began to match incoming signals with their emoji sets and switch them over, and after Apple’s 2007 iPhone globalized them, the Unicode Standard was created so that your poop emoji will send to any device.
New Emojis
New emojis introduced into the existing canon are decided by the Unicode Consortium, which sounds like a bona-fide secret society right out of a sci-fi novel but is an actual, real-life organization whose goal it is to enable everyone to be able to use a computer and express themselves with pictures! However, the individual designs for the emojis are left at the discretion of the companies making them; the biggest players being Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, and Google. As a result of this, each of these big-name platforms (and other smaller-name ones) has their own emoji for the same expression.
The Gun Emoji
Take for example, the gun emoji, which was one of the most controversial emojis out there at the time of its creation and is still interesting today because of the fluctuating gun climate in the USA. Upon its inception, none of the platforms had the same one, and some even went as far as to use squirt guns instead of actual guns. There were also companies that started with real guns but changed them to squirt guns at a later date (and in Microsoft’s case, vice-versa). See the chart below:
Source: Emojipedia / Emojipedia
Obviously, squirt gun to lethal gun emojis can totally change the tone of a message and actually cause confusion if two users were receiving different images.
It’s worth noting that Apple was the forerunner in changing their gun emoji to the squirt gun we see now. After Apple changed theirs, most companies followed suit partly due to personal value but also because they are trying to create an emoji culture where there is as little confusion as possible, a mission that as designers ourselves we can absolutely appreciate.
Facebook has also announced that they will be removing their gun emoji and replacing it with a squirt gun, although that change hasn’t happened yet. This means every major platform has changed from a real gun to a squirt gun.
Sources:
https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2016/10/the-surprising-history-of-emojis/
Six Reasons Stickers & GIFs are Effective for Marketing
Marketing is constantly evolving around the consumer, and during the Age of Technology it’s evolving at a more rapid pace ever; it can be difficult for marketers to know whether or not they’re on the uptake or being left behind. Perhaps the most underrated game-changing tool for marketers are animated stickers and GIFs. Although many still use video, this format is frankly out of date for the modern internet user. According to a survey conducted by Harris Poll, a whopping 71% of Americans would rather send a digital sticker over a block of text. With such a large user base, it’s no surprise more and more companies have been seizing the opportunity to make branded stickers and GIFs to seamlessly integrate their brand into their consumer’s daily life. We partner with these companies to make their brand come alive within mobile conversations. However, not all companies are aware of the wide gamut of opportunities afforded to them across platforms or the sheer flexibility stickers and GIFs inherently have.
1. Custom Twitter Emojis that create trending hashtags:
Companies can pay Twitter to attach a custom emoji to a Twitter hashtag for a period of time. Then, whenever someone uses their hashtag the emoji automatically comes with it! The brand’s hashtag instantly stands out with its unique emoji and helps create a community around the product.
Recently, we collaborated with Disney on a campaign for Christopher Robin and other upcoming titles, including creating a range of twitter emojis to promote the film and make the hashtags appealing, relevant, and most importantly create the cute Pooh-bear association to the Christopher Robin movie in people’s minds. We managed the storyboarding, sketching, and illustration for these emojis.
2. Clickable Branded Stickers:
A branded sticker campaign’s main objective is to organically increase brand awareness and engagement. To that end, stickers are a revolutionary tool because it enables marketers to have their brand present in their customers everyday conversations across mobile. In other words, their brand becomes a permanent part of their customer’s life.
A good example of this is Lovate Health’s MuscleTech stickers, promoting their MuscleTech brand of products. These stickers are centered around and cater directly to the consumer base that uses MuscleTech products; as a result, they end up using them a lot because the sentiments and in-jokes are relevant to them. This entrenches MuscleTech further into the community in a feedback loop that keeps both the company and the consumer happy, and helps new initiates to the community naturally find their product in a sea of competitors.
Lovate Health has taken it even further by making their stickers clickable. These stickers, when sent, allow the receiver or sender to click the sticker and be redirected to a website, the app, or the app store. This is brilliant because users are able to interact with the images being received and has quick access to the company’s brand. They also allow people to send links to products they enjoy in a fun way!
3. Sticker Markets on Messengers:
Stickers and messengers go hand-in-hand, creating a demand for sticker marketplaces, which offer a wide variety of branded emojis and keyboard and almost functions as an advertising playground.
In 2016, around 50% of all mobile users used at least one form of mobile messenger, according to Stastia. The fact that since then, messenger apps continue to add free features like video calls, encryption and social media means that usage has only been increasing. Sticker marketplaces have also grown in kind, and many of mobile messengers have created their own sticker markets that draw users to their specific platform.
Apple and Facebook are leaders in this industry with their respective iMessage and Messenger platforms; in total, over 1 billion stickers sent on them. We’ve has observed the intense popularity of stickers it created for the mobile game Plants Vs. Zombies, which had 1 million downloads 4 days, and 2.5 million downloads in a week with over 100 million impressions.
4. Everyone is a Brand Ambassador:
This was touched upon briefly in point number two, but one of a branded sticker’s major selling points is the seamless integration into a consumer’s life: in other words, converting that customer into a brand ambassador.
This is one of the most effective ways of creating brand ambassadors because people are sending these stickers to their friends organically; they love the content and they are spreading the brand to all of their friends in a win-win scenario. Furthermore, people who are friends tend to be in similar target markets, which means having stickers so your customers can share your brand with their friends is the ideal way to spread your brand.
5. They Can Reach New Audiences
Stickers are an important bridge that connects companies to a younger audience in a charmingly appealing way. In an age where this younger audience has been collectively groomed to ignore the millions of ads they see every day, stickers appeal as authentic and fun, leading more of this audience to be attracted to and spread your brand (in the form of stickers). Sometimes you even get people who were previously unaware of your brand but will buy sticker packs because of artistic appeal or funny witticisms, which could convert them into customers. If not, they’ll at the very least be creating more brand awareness for your brand.
6. They Have Potential for Going Viral
Some of these sticker apps/packs go viral and have millions of downloads. Although not a guarantee, the possibility is always there and because stickers are created to be spread on the internet, where the phenomenon of “going viral” first appeared and retains the farthest reach, it is a direct line to the culture that facilities going viral.
Overall, the existence of stickers as a marketing tool has opened a completely new avenue for brands and consumers to communicate through. Instead of having their message get “lost in textlation”, customers can augment their thoughts with your brand, without losing what they want to say.
Most importantly, they can do it in a way that feels fun and cool and makes them feel good, which will push them to keep doing it. People can show who they are by sending stickers of TV shows, music, or quotes they like from pop culture that curate their personality by showcasing the communities they’re a part of and appealing to others like them. In layman’s terms, stickers/GIFs are great for showing some personality!
Personalized Emojis are Taking Messaging by Storm
Recently, custom emojis have been sprouting up on all major messaging platforms like Apple, Google, Samsung, and Snapchat. These were started by Bitmoji, a company that allowed users to create their own personal emoji. Once Snapchat acquired Bitmoji, the race was on for all major messengers to create their own. These personal emojis are used by a wide range of age groups and are some of the most popular stickers.
Bitmoji
Bitmojis were the first personalized emojis to take messaging by storm. They were designed to fill the gap between selfies and text messages by sending a personal sticker that could express emotion. This idea took off and was acquired by Snapchat to become the avatars for all Snapchat users. Bitmojis were a massive success and are now on most major messengers as well as Snapchat. These custom stickers led to most major messengers adopting their own personalized emojis.
Apple Memojis
Apple is currently testing their new personalized emojis that are expected to be released with iOS12 called Memojis. Previously Apple launched Animojis, which were animated stickers of the user’s facial motions illustrated by various animals. Memojis, are an extension on these animated stickers, by allowing users to use their animated character. This movement is then translated to your Memoji on your screen, creating your own personal animated sticker. The Memoji’s are completely customizable to make your own unique animated messages.
Samsung AR Emojis
Samsung Augmented Reality (AR) Emojis allow a user to create their own personalized emoji. These emojis are able to be customized with different effects that make the sticker look more cartoonish or more lifelike. Samsung also gives you the option to change the clothes of your custom sticker.
Recently, Samsung updated their AR Emojis with the addition of 18 more set stickers to add onto your emoji, making the total 36. Right after the release of these extra stickers, Samsung also announced they will be launching 18 more additional stickers soon. These personalized stickers are only available the Galaxy S9 and S9+.
However, creating custom stickers is not the only thing that AR Emoji allows a user to do. It also has a feature that brands can utilize, like Disney who released some of their classic characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck onto the platform. Then Disney followed up with a release of the Incredibles characters to promote the newly released sequel to the film.
Google Minis
Google recently announced that they are launching a keyboard add-on called Minis that allows users to send customized stickers of themselves. The user will take a picture of themselves and a digital sticker of them will be created. Google is taking a unique approach to their customizable stickers. Unlike Snapchat and Samsung, Google Minis will have packs to purchase containing different gear and backgrounds for your personal sticker. Currently, these custom stickers are only available in the Beta keyboard, however, we should expect to see them soon.
