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Twit-mojis

Published on March 4, 2016, at 10:00 a.m.
by Leah Tobak.

Whether enjoying the Oscars pandemonium from the comfort of your home or frantically checking social media to stay updated, you may have noticed the Oscars hashtag had a little extra flair: tweeting #Oscars featured a special Oscar trophy emoji.

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This is not the first time Twitter has introduced a unique emoji for a campaign or special event. In the past few months it has rolled out emojis for the VMAs, the “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” premiere and Budlight vs. Budweiser during the Super Bowl.

But how did this new PR tactic come about? And what’s in it for Twitter?

The proposer of the great hashtag emoji campaign was none other than Coca-Cola, a major global partner of Twitter. Working with Coca-Cola and creative agency W+K, Twitter launched its first custom emoji in October 2015 with the hashtag #ShareACoke.

cokeThis endeavor has not been fruitless for Twitter, though; in fact, it’s been vastly profitable. Several sources confirmed to Adweek that there was a “seven-figure” price for branded emojis. The million-dollar packages include the custom emoji and an assortment of Promoted Trends (normally $200,000 alone), Promoted Moments and Promoted Tweets. Sources added that these new Twit-mojis were mostly reserved for Twitter’s largest advertisers, including Coca-Cola, Dove, Starbucks and Spotify.

Many companies are now seriously considering this tactic as a more practical investment. Consider, for example, a sole Super Bowl ad goes for $5 million, while more viewers are now turning to their phones and social media for information.

So next commercial break, you may be better off turning to Twitter for the latest from your favorite brands.

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