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Chevy’s all-emoji press release needs no translation Can you communicate using just emoji? Ask Chevy ;-)
(about 1 hour later)
First, there was Emoji Dick, a crowdfunded translation of Moby Dick into emoji. Then Ikea created its own set of emoji – which, unfortunately, nobody could figure out how to put together. Then Yelp let you search with emoji and Domino’s let you order pizza through emoji. And on and on and emoticon. Now, however, things have come to a (smiley, yellow) head. I’m calling it: we’ve reached peak emoji.First, there was Emoji Dick, a crowdfunded translation of Moby Dick into emoji. Then Ikea created its own set of emoji – which, unfortunately, nobody could figure out how to put together. Then Yelp let you search with emoji and Domino’s let you order pizza through emoji. And on and on and emoticon. Now, however, things have come to a (smiley, yellow) head. I’m calling it: we’ve reached peak emoji.
So what’s driven me to this emojional proclamation? Well, Chevy has. The General Motors-owned car manufacturer has published a press release entirely in emoji. “Words alone can’t describe the new 2016 Chevrolet Cruze,” the company announced, “so to celebrate its upcoming reveal, the media advisory is being issued in emoji.” Here is some unsolicited life advice: if “words alone” can’t describe something, it might be time to buy a dictionary.So what’s driven me to this emojional proclamation? Well, Chevy has. The General Motors-owned car manufacturer has published a press release entirely in emoji. “Words alone can’t describe the new 2016 Chevrolet Cruze,” the company announced, “so to celebrate its upcoming reveal, the media advisory is being issued in emoji.” Here is some unsolicited life advice: if “words alone” can’t describe something, it might be time to buy a dictionary.
Speaking of dictionaries, nobody is exactly sure what the press release actually says, although Chevy has promised an official translation, composed out of old-fashioned words, later today. However, as the emojis used include a bicycle, an urban skyline, several mobile phones and a flower, I presume that it says something to the effect of: car ownership is increasingly obsolete in a rapidly citifying world, where it is generally more practical, not to mention environmentally friendly, to take mass transit, cycle or order a taxi than own a car. Alternatively, it might just say something about fuel efficiency.Speaking of dictionaries, nobody is exactly sure what the press release actually says, although Chevy has promised an official translation, composed out of old-fashioned words, later today. However, as the emojis used include a bicycle, an urban skyline, several mobile phones and a flower, I presume that it says something to the effect of: car ownership is increasingly obsolete in a rapidly citifying world, where it is generally more practical, not to mention environmentally friendly, to take mass transit, cycle or order a taxi than own a car. Alternatively, it might just say something about fuel efficiency.
Anyway, what the press release actually says is of limited significance. What is significant is that several news outlets are now talking about a compact car with a name like a celebrity child, simply because a corporation issued a press release made out of little pictures. What’s more, a lot of the coverage seems to think that, somehow, the joke’s on Chevy. LOL, isn’t it cringey when marketers try to show how on fleek they are with the 18- to 34-year-old kids?Anyway, what the press release actually says is of limited significance. What is significant is that several news outlets are now talking about a compact car with a name like a celebrity child, simply because a corporation issued a press release made out of little pictures. What’s more, a lot of the coverage seems to think that, somehow, the joke’s on Chevy. LOL, isn’t it cringey when marketers try to show how on fleek they are with the 18- to 34-year-old kids?
It is easy to dismiss the Chevy press release as just another fairly desperate attempt by a clueless corporation to try to talk to #millennials. Marketers do, after all, invest enormous resources in researching what millennials want, how millennials interact, and how to get millennials to think their brand is cool. From the amount of effort that goes into understanding this demographic you’d think it was an unusual (but lucrative) new super-material like graphene, rather than, you know, a significant proportion of the adult population. There have also been some spectacularly bathetic findings to come out of all this millennial mining. Take, for example, a US Potato Board report titled Understanding Millennials – How do Potatoes Fit Into Their Lives. This sought to understand “attitudes and behaviours related to potatoes” and eventually concluded that: “When it comes to potatoes, millennials are not significantly different from the rest of the population.”It is easy to dismiss the Chevy press release as just another fairly desperate attempt by a clueless corporation to try to talk to #millennials. Marketers do, after all, invest enormous resources in researching what millennials want, how millennials interact, and how to get millennials to think their brand is cool. From the amount of effort that goes into understanding this demographic you’d think it was an unusual (but lucrative) new super-material like graphene, rather than, you know, a significant proportion of the adult population. There have also been some spectacularly bathetic findings to come out of all this millennial mining. Take, for example, a US Potato Board report titled Understanding Millennials – How do Potatoes Fit Into Their Lives. This sought to understand “attitudes and behaviours related to potatoes” and eventually concluded that: “When it comes to potatoes, millennials are not significantly different from the rest of the population.”
To give Chevy its due, however, I think it may be a little more marketing-savvy than the US Potato Board. What’s more, the primary target for its emoji-explosion was clearly not millennials, but the media, which appears to have an insatiable appetite for emoji-related news. Indeed, Chevy’s “media advisory” says less about emoji or cars or millennials than it does about the interplay between PR and journalism in the digital world, and the changing role of the press release.To give Chevy its due, however, I think it may be a little more marketing-savvy than the US Potato Board. What’s more, the primary target for its emoji-explosion was clearly not millennials, but the media, which appears to have an insatiable appetite for emoji-related news. Indeed, Chevy’s “media advisory” says less about emoji or cars or millennials than it does about the interplay between PR and journalism in the digital world, and the changing role of the press release.
There are now around 4.6 PR professionals to every journalist in the US and journalists are inundated with press releases. That means that corporations need to be more creative (or conniving) if they want to ensure that they get a chance to control the narrative around their products. Amazon drew headlines in 2013 when it distributed a press release for its new Kindle reader in the form of 14 separate tweets. While the move, like an all-emoji press release, was gimmicky, it was also a smart recognition by Amazon of the way in which “content” is picked up by journalists in a world of social media.There are now around 4.6 PR professionals to every journalist in the US and journalists are inundated with press releases. That means that corporations need to be more creative (or conniving) if they want to ensure that they get a chance to control the narrative around their products. Amazon drew headlines in 2013 when it distributed a press release for its new Kindle reader in the form of 14 separate tweets. While the move, like an all-emoji press release, was gimmicky, it was also a smart recognition by Amazon of the way in which “content” is picked up by journalists in a world of social media.
General Motors (GM), which owns Chevy, has already demonstrated that it understands the importance of social platforms when it comes to inserting its narrative into the media. Sometimes that’s slightly more insidious than just pandering to emoji enthusiasts. Last year, GM faced a PR disaster over whether it had ignored warnings about the role of a faulty ignition switch in fatal car crashes. When Mary Barra, the company’s new leader, was going before Congress to put forth GM’s narrative, she recorded an emotional YouTube video explaining how “as a member of the GM family and as a mom with a family of my own, this really hits home for me”. This was, as intended, picked up by journalists and embedded in several news stories about the subject. While Chevy may have released the “world’s first emoji press release”, the art of PR has already undergone several rounds of corporate translation. General Motors (GM), which owns Chevy, has already demonstrated that it understands the importance of social platforms when it comes to inserting its narrative into the media. Sometimes that’s slightly more insidious than just pandering to emoji enthusiasts. Last year, GM faced a PR disaster over whether it had ignored warnings about the role of a faulty ignition switch in fatal car crashes. When Mary Barra, the company’s new leader, was going before Congress to put forth GM’s narrative, she recorded an emotional YouTube video explaining how “as a member of the GM family and as a mom with a family of my own, this really hits home for me”. This was, as intended, picked up by journalists and embedded in several news stories about the subject. While Chevy may have released the “world’s first emoji press release”, the art of PR has already undergone several rounds of corporate translation. So don’t dismiss this all-emoji advisory as just a hieroglyphic gimmick: it’s part of a much bigger picture.