THE NATIONAL EMOJI PROJECT - Ministry of Foreign …mfa.gov.il/MFA/AboutTheMinistry/Conferences-Seminars... 2 Emojis is a language based on symbols. It has gradually become a part

THE NATIONAL EMOJI PROJECT

Petra Theman, Director of Public Diplomacy, MFA Finland

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https://vimeo.com/153078403

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Emojis is a language based on symbols. It has gradually become a part of everyday communications around the world. Smileys and other ideograms, which usually describe emotions, compress much information into a small space.

Why?

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Country Brand of Finland

Anholt-Gfk Roper Nation Brands Index 2013: Finland 17/50

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Exports 15.

Investment /immigration 15.

Tourism 27.

Governance 9.

Culture 27.

People 17.

Soft Power of Finland

Portland Communications Soft Power Index 2015; Finland 15/30

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Engagement 16.

Digital 19.

Enterprise 5.

Government 8.

Culture 30.

Education 19.

"In soft power terms Finland punches weigh above its'

geopolitical weight.”

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”We are underperformers in country brand and in

attracting investments if you look at all the other

rankings where Finland is at the top.”

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Challenge Nr 1

Opinions and images of countries change very little after the first

image is born during teenage years...

-> Still we, as most countries, were only communicating with decision

makers and adults.

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How?

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One yearly campaign: Christmas!

• ThisisFINLAND site (finland.fi) and SoMe

• Starting point: Christmas calendar concept renewal.

• Searched for something that works better on mobile

devices and in social media, and takes into account a

younger public.

• The idea about emojis was logical and true to the Finnish

brand: the SMS had been invented in Finland and the

normal way of communicating is short and concise.

-> xmas.finland.fi 17

Choice of themes

• Show typical Finnish emotions

• Be used in a variety of ways

• Feel honest and not polished

-> strengths: gender equality, peace building,

closeness to nature, corruption low, toughness...

-> weaknesses: alcohol use, heavy cursing, obsene

looking pastries... 18

Technical choices

Wanted

• to launch the emojis at a precise date

• to look the same on all devices

• to be found as an entity of ”Finland emojis”

-> The only way to go was to make emoji stickers and our own app

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PR choices

• Launched the idea ”World’s first country emojis” one month

before, Nov 4th

• Launched the calendar Dec 1st

• Calendar in 13 languages (Priority countries: UK, US, Russia,

France, Germany, Poland, Turkey, China, India, South-Korea,

Mexico, Egypt, Japan)

• Team Finland –concept in the Government

• No external PR agency, only MFA resources and embassies

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Results

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Some figures

• Main channel Twitter first launch date reach: 3 million

• First launch date mentioning both #Finland & #emojis: 1500

• First month media coverage: over 2000 articles and inserts in

ALL major global media

• Explosion in contacts, media-enquiries, questions, co-

operation offers

• Several communications awards

-> disappointment: the app functionalities

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xmas.finland.fi statistics

• 160 000 visitors, of which 41 000 downloaded the

whole set of emojis from the page

• Most downloaded image: The Headbanger

• 50 % on English pages (19 % from US IP-addresses)

• 19 % on Japanese pages

• 9 % on German pages

• 7 % on Russian pages

• 60 % visited the page from mobile devices

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Curiosities

• As part of the new popular trivia game questions

• As an academic research object

• As part of new high school books

• As merchandising

Best of all: Mock-up sites and different national ”what

would our emojis look like?”

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In the end...

• ...a small drop in the sea, hopefully leaving a tiny

trace of a country that is easy-going and can laugh at

itself & technologically savvy

Reasons for success:

1. It was a GOVERNMENT, not a company, not a

promotion agency

2. The choice of themes was bold enough

3. Timing 25

Next? May 12th summer emojis!

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27 Petra Theman, Director of Public Diplomacy, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland [email protected]