• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, July 19, 2016

While the fun and frivolity of National Emoji Day, July 17, has passed, there's no stopping the massive increase in obsession among advertisers for emojis. It seems they are everywhere. In fact, seems isn't the right word. The are everywhere, according to a new study conducted by Appboy.

The study, The Rise and Rise and Rise of Emoji Marketing, found that the number of active campaigns containing emojis has increased 609% in the last 12 months and 114% year-to-date. In actual numbers, the study claims that translates to over 800 million emoji messages versus 145 million a year ago.

Interestingly, Android push notifications sent with emojis outpace iOS emoji messages by 2X. And while emoji usage is on the rise in mobile marketing, that same rise isn't yet happening with email -- which lags mobile messaging, which saw about 400 million uses of emojis. But those marketers who did use emojis in the subject line of their emails saw a 15% increase in open rate.

Regarding consumer sentiment over the use of emojis, the study found that 64% of respondents like emojis -- with, predictably, younger age groups liking them more than older age groups. In terms consumer sentiment for brands that use emojis in their marketing, the overwhelming majority offer positive sentiment using words like fun, relatable, professional. That said, more than a third of survey respondents have never received an emoji message from a brand.