Emojis

Starting Wednesday, you’ll be able to order pizza by tweeting the pizza slice emoji at Domino’s, and then other brands like Foot Locker and Burger King have their own straight up keyboards. Would love to hear your thoughts on the growth of brands using emojis.

This seems like a classic case of shiny new object syndrome, of putting the cart before the horse, of tilting at a strategy with a tactic. Emoji are popular right now, brands are thinking; we must join the bandwagon!

But, as Steve Jobs often said, sometimes saying “no” to new features is as important as adding them. Chasing new trends, especially frivolous ones, may engender buzz in the short term, but it’s not sustainable in the long term.

Addendum (5/15/2015): Success!