Brief:

• Air New Zealand, the world’s best airline as measured by AirlineRatings.com, debuted a social media campaign that creates customized travel itineraries based on emoji characters, per The Drum. Mobile users are asked to use the digital icons to describe the ideal trip to the country along with the hashtag #EmojiJourney on Facebook or Twitter. The airline then sends a link to a personalized map with emojis highlighting points of interest.

• Clicking on each of the emojis on the map provides more information about destinations and nearby activities, such as restaurants and bars, shopping, art and culture, adventures and outdoor activities, per a company statement. Air New Zealand's #EmojiJourney experience is found on the airline's social channels.

• Jodi Williams, the general manager of global brand and content marketing for Air New Zealand, said in the statement that the campaign is aimed at travelers, particularly millennials and Generation Z, that are familiar with communication by emoji characters on social media. #EmojiJourney will be launched in global markets in English, Japanese, German and Chinese, she said.

Insight:

The campaign shows the enduring appeal of emojis and how marketers are getting more creative in their use of them. Air New Zealand’s emoji campaign is an entertaining way to engage smartphone users who may be planning to travel to the country and are looking for ideas on places to visit. That’s especially true for millennial and Gen Z travelers who are more comfortable using emoji characters to liven up their posts on social media and mobile messages to friends and family.

Emojis continue to show their staying power in advertising as consumers see their appeal and the tactic improves to make it easier for marketers to use. The Unicode Consortium that governs emojis this month introduced a list of 157 new emojis for release this year that includes more hair colors, skin tones, superheroes, animals and food, among other items.

Air New Zealand and other marketers can use the information gleaned from emojis to target mobile users based on their usage of the digital characters. Twitter, which sees 3.5 billion emojis sent on its platform every month, for the past couple of years has offered audience targeting based on emoji usage, along with marketing partners AdParlor, Amobee, HYFN, Perion, SocialCode and 4C.