Why General Motors' Emoji Press Release Is Brilliant

General Motors' press release today was a reminder that Emoji is the rage. The World Wildlife Fund is using it to raise awareness about endangered animals. Dominos required people to tweet the pizza emoji during a recent Twitter initiative. A tech firm in the United Kingdom is pushing to have it as an integral part of our passwords. Even the eDiplomacy community has a place at this table, as there are emoji for every national flag in the world.

And remember Joanna Stern's recent piece about the joys of writing in emoji, complete with a lingo cheat sheet? Her post was quite good, and asserted, among other things, that Emoji characters...

...are best used as an “adjunct” to text—especially in social media—helping to ?make up for the the lack of gestures, ?facial ?expressions and ?intonation ?found in speech?.??

All of this brings us back to General Motors' emoji press release - written entirely in emoji, and pictured here to the left. It promotes the Chevy Cruze, a vehicle that General Motors has been manufacturing for 7 years.

Though I don't completely know how to decipher it, I do believe it is pure genius. One writer described it as "millennial hieroglyphics" - which is their way of saying that General Motor is marketing to millennials without actually saying it is.

Ok, yes, General Motors will likely benefit from increased millennial awareness of their brand, but I believe the payoff for them could cut across age groups. Why? Because it got so much of the online world talking today. WIRED and FORTUNE weighed in. JALOPNIK did too, with a hilarious post that claims to have translated it. 

Moreover, this could signal to some that General Motors is willing to try big approaches for a stronger relationship with the ever-evolving, tech-minded car buyer. This last point is important because car-makers are looking to be huge players in the burgeoning, Connected Car market that will be a key component of the Internet of Things. 

This is why I have a hard time thinking this was done only to appeal to millennials. General Motors has connected cars, right? Yes. So with a nice wink and a nod, this allows them to play up their brand to (any) tech enthusiast who would consider connected features a key part of their next car purchase. 

When you think about it in this way, you'll realize just how incredibly savvy this emoji, PR move was. I ran into people today from all age groups, and like me, they are looking forward to the official translation of the press release, which General Motors will post on Tuesday June 23rd, at 2pm EST. 

UPDATE: You can see the full translation of the press release right here.

Here is some of my work on LinkedIn, Huffington Post, and Smedio:

• Two Big Takeaways from the CMO Assembly
• Rohit Varma on India's Surge in the Digital Era
• Success and Social Media: Heather Geronemus

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Sean Gardner is a global best-selling author, keynote speaker, digital consultant and business creative who is based in Seattle, WA. He currently conducts workshops and social media training for small business, nonprofits, government agencies, celebrities and multinational corporations. You can Tweet, Friend, Pin, or Instagram him, and/or circle him on Google Plus.

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