LOS ANGELES — Although adult marketers will most likely be barred from its new Promoted #Stickers, Twitter’s latest marketing initiative is set to drive visual hash tagging across all media verticals.
Twitter’s Head of Product, Brand and Video Ads, Ilya Brown, announced the new offering today in an official blog post, noting that the company is “always looking to provide fun ways for people to express themselves on Twitter.”
“As a brand, creative expression tools [such as] GIFs, Polls, and emojis help you drive deeper customer engagement, [so] we recently introduced #Stickers, a fun new way for Twitter users to add a pop of creativity to photos and connect them to the world on Twitter,” Brown blogged. “Since then, millions of photos have been Tweeted using #Stickers in creative and dynamic ways across sports, news, and entertainment.”
Although promoted #Stickers are only available to select marketers with a managed account, Brown says that the custom stickers will be usable by anyone on Twitter.
“A brand’s stickers will be featured in the #Stickers library and offer a form of creative expression that makes a person’s photos more fun and engaging,” Brown explains. “Promoted #Stickers represents a huge opportunity for brands to drive brand affinity and raise awareness of their message at scale.”
As for how Promoted #Stickers work, Brown says that brands can design four or eight stickers for users to add to their own photos, which are then shared with all of the user’s followers.
“#Stickers act as a visual hashtag, meaning that photos with your brand’s sticker will be connected and discoverable to anyone who taps your brand’s sticker,” Brown reveals of the power behind the promo. “This allows a brand to see and engage with the people who are using their stickers in creative ways.”
Brown says that Pepsi will be the exclusive launch partner of Promoted #Stickers, with 50 stickers targeting 10 markets as part of its global PepsiMoji campaign.
“The partnership also includes a custom Niche creator campaign showing consumers how to use their #Stickers, as well as a branded Pepsi emoji and a Promoted Trend,” Brown concludes, noting this campaign is the largest partnership to date between Twitter and Pepsi.
It is a marketing tool that will doubtlessly be emulated. For example, content sites such as adult tubes might augment the tried-and-true “star rating” and tagging system with visual hash tags, or might use such “stickers” in lieu of the near-player banner ads that consumers have increasingly become blind to.
However they are implemented, surfer stickers may quickly grow in popularity — and if Twitter has its way, they will form a new revenue stream as well.