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How To Own Your Own Emoji

Creating a brand isn't just about having a killer product, and telling the story well—it's about owning a piece of your audience's mind. Claiming a large chunk of cerebral real estate, smack bang in the middle of the prefrontal cortex. And one of the best ways to do this is owning an emoji.

In today’s piece we will dive deep into how smart companies like Morning Brew, are mastering this strategy, and how you can too. So grab your cup morning joe and let's roll.

The short history of the emoji 🫠

In 1999, Japanese engineer Shigetaka Kurita created the first set of 176 emojis for NTT DoCoMo's mobile internet platform. This was the genie being released from the bottle, a butterfly effect moment, that would shift digital communication forever. Before emojis, we relied on emoticons like :) and kaomoji like ¯_(ツ)_/¯ to express emotions in text.

The global emoji revolution began in 2010 when they were integrated into Unicode, the international standard for encoding and representing text across devices. The unification of emojis was beginning and would set the stage for their worldwide adoption.

The real explosion happened in 2011 when Apple launched its emoji keyboard globally on iOS. Android followed suit in 2013, making emojis available to millions of smartphone users. From that moment on, emojis infiltrated digital language and cultures everywhere, becoming an unstoppable force. Eggplants and peaches would never be viewed the same again.

Today, emojis continue to evolve, shaping how we communicate in the digital age and transcending language barriers with their universal visual language.

The psychology of owning mindshare

Picture this: every time someone sees a certain emoji, they think of your brand. It's a subtle, yet powerful move. Imagine scrolling through your social media feed and spotting a coffee emoji. Instantly, you think of Morning Brew—a media brand that recently sold for $75 million dollars—that's not by accident.

Morning Brew, the business newsletter powerhouse, nailed this by owning the coffee emoji ☕️. beehiiv, an innovative, fast-moving, email service provider, followed suit with the bee emoji 🐝. Both have turned these simple symbols into powerful branding tools.

The magic lies in the repetition and association. Every time a follower sees that little coffee cup or the buzzing bee, it triggers a mental link to these brands. This repeated exposure doesn't just keep the brand top of mind; it clubs you over the head with the brand in everyday digital interactions.

And using emojis isn't just a gimmick—it's a power move backed by solid data. When it comes to email subject lines for example, brands that include emojis see a thrice as likely (never said that before) to choose attention grabbing emoji packed copy.

The bottom line here: use emojis in a fun, smart way, and they'll make your brand unforgettable.

The founding fathers of emoji marketing

Morning Brew, a daily business and tech newsletter with millions of readers—co-founded by Austin Rief and Alex Lieberman— adopted the coffee emoji to keep their brand top of mind. This little cup of joe is everywhere: their social media handles, their email subject lines, you name it. And for good reason.

When you see the Morning Brew mug ☕️ a few times, it starts to pop up everywhere in your mind. Whether it's a friend mentioning a coffee run or a tweet about a coffee shop, the association is instant. That's the power of owning an emoji. Morning Brew even catalise their tribe by referring to them as the #BrewCrew. Powerful stuff.

Buzz-worthy branding by beehiiv

beehiiv, the tool I am writing this email on—of which I am also an investor—was founded by a former early Morning Brew employee, Tyler Denk. It’s no surprise then that they follow the same playbook, choosing the bee emoji 🐝 to act as the visual mascot behind the brand. beehiiv in a very short time have capitalized on their momentum and created a real community. And the emoji has definitely played a part in that.

_{*Notice all the happy little bees attached to every one of the teams profiles.}

But it’s not just great for growth, it works for employer branding as well. “Our team has deep personal relationships with hundreds of our users online. We receive tons of qualified candidates for each new role we promote. None of those things would be possible if I chose to build beehiiv in stealth,” says Tyler.

For beehiiv, just like Morning Brew before then, owning an emoji has paid off very well.

More brands nailing the emoji game

Chili Piper cooking with emoji heat

Another player, this time in more traditional B2B SaaS, who has upped their emoji game is Chili Piper, whose team proudly brandish the 🌶️ emoji on their social profiles. Take a look at some of these little chilis.

Deadpool: emoji marketing on steroids

They mad scientists behind Deadpool’s marketing leaned into the idea of emoji branding. In the lead up to the release date billboards and social feeds were plastered with 💀💩L.

That's ‘Deadpool’ in emoji-speak. It nailed the movie's irreverent vibe, got people talking, and was simple enough for anyone to get the joke. This stunt could've crashed and burned, but not for Deadpool, it proves that with the right brand and audience, even the simplest emojis can make a massive splash.

Detailed and their little purple alien

Take a look at Glen Allsopp's Twitter profile. He's the founder of Detailed, and he chose the alien emoji 👾 to represent his brand. It's distinctive, memorable, and true to his brand's identity.

The other incredible thing Glen and the team did was he turned the emoji into a 3D character, that he uses across multiple brand touchpoints.

They also use the colour purple across their brand, giving even more chances to associate the emoji to the brand. A masterclass in emojifying your company.

And one day soon, Athyna

I guess I can use the 35,000 of you as our own sort of focus group. You know far too little to make a reasonable response. But with the little information you do have—which do you prefer?

Summary

So now you know. Owning an emoji might seem like a small, whimsical tactic, but as Morning Brew and beehiiv have shown, it can have a monumental impact on brand recognition. By choosing a unique emoji and integrating it consistently across all channels, you too can make your brand a constant presence in your audience’s digital life.

In the game of brand dominance, it’s the little things that make a big difference. So pick your emoji, own it, and watch your brand become legendary.

How you can apply this

Further study

And that’s it! I hope you enjoyed this one, now get out there and find your own emoji spirit animal.

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See the full set of tools we use inside of Athyna & Open Source CEO here.

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