Emojis – The language of now

By Ben | 17th July 2019

Emojis have come a long way since the emoticon days of : ) with each new wave of emojis becoming increasingly detailed and niche. We’ve gone from a challenge of creatively trying to express emotions using punctuation to spending ages trying to decide what colour hair our little face-palming woman should have.

As a PR agency, it could be argued that emojis go against what we do. We love words, so why would we substitute part of our rich and expressive language with an overused pictogram? The answer is simple. We are, at heart, a communications agency. While we specialise in writing, our job is to get the client’s message across in whatever way will engage their audience.

Emojis are undoubtedly a part of the modern-day vernacular, with everyone from schoolchildren to corporate giants using them to communicate in a more friendly, informal style. So, if the people we are targeting are using emojis, we should use them too in order to speak their language and to show we are keeping with the times.

With that in mind, our team were having a discussion this morning in our WhatsApp group about which emojis represent each of us. Here’s what we came up with:

MATT – THE ZANY FACE

After a few too many bottles of Pepsi Max, Matt regularly turns into the office joker. With his off the wall humour and spot-on cat impressions, he brings a unique energy and enthusiasm to the office.

CLAIRE-MARIE – THE EYE ROLL

Easily wound up, Claire-Marie is the long-suffering recipient of all the madness that goes on in the office – but she loves it really! Fortunately, she’s always around to keep us on track and make sure work gets done.

DAVE – THE THINKING FACE

Our boss has an incredibly inquisitive mind; always discovering new things and sharing his knowledge with the rest of the team. With a razor-sharp wit and infectious passion for learning, there’s never a dull day in the office.

LAURA – THE COLD FACE

It’s a running joke in the office that when everyone else is complaining that it’s too warm, Laura can be found in the corner wrapped up in a thick cardigan. But while she may feel a bit chilly, her warm smile and fiery red hair certainly brighten up the office.

BEN – THE LAUGHING FACE

With a perpetually positive outlook, Ben likes to enjoy what he’s doing and keeps the office laughing with his child-like sense of fun and quick-witted humour.

Although we do use and enjoy emojis (except for Dave) we still agree that emojis aren’t always appropriate and they have their place. Professional emails and serious messages can often come across as insincere when preceded with a little yellow smiley face, which could cause the intended message to be misconstrued.

Because emojis are so frequently used, they have also lost some of their meaning. For example, most people who put ???? aren’t actually crying with laughter, but the emoji has become shorthand for “that was quite funny”. Still, it appears less sarcastic than writing “haha!”

Whether you love them or hate them, it looks like emojis are here to stay. So have fun using them, but don’t forget that they’re not always as effective as the written word.

I guess all that’s left is to say goodbye, or to put it another way…