When you've won a combined nine games the past three years, the way the Jacksonville Jaguars have, and you still have seats to fill...you have to do things to spark a little excitement with the fan base.
And the Jags are looking to emojis as part of their #MOREJAX digital marketing campaign to do just that. On Wednesday (July 22), the Jaguars launched an emoji keyboard, social aggregator and Twitter Mirror as part of the new digital experience they're hoping their fans flock to.
The Jaguars are actually the first NFL team to launch a fully-functional emoji keyboard, which is powered by tech company Snaps, and includes players such as Blake Bortles, Sen'Derrick Marks, Denard Robinson and Josh Scobee. The emoji keyboard can be downloaded through the team's app and it will give fans the ability to also text and email stickers and animated GIF files to each other.
Part of their #MOREJAX digital rollout was also the announcement of their Wall of Duval social aggregator, which pulls tweets and Instagram posts from players, as well as any news on the team and places it on the Jaguars' website and also on its app. The Twitter Mirror will allow fans to post selfies, which can be humorously altered.
But the emoji keyboard and the players' animated likenesses on it seemed to be the talk of the town.
"There were some of the stickers and stuff that they may not have liked at first," the Jaguars' social media coordinator Brandon Naidus told ESPN about the players' reaction to the team's new digital initiative. "Sen'Derrick loved his and got a big laugh. Blake loved his."
Added the team's senior digital media manager Chris Burdett: "I've already had three teams [Wednesday] morning reach out to me. It's a matter of time [before other teams launch their emoji keyboard]. We actually had Packers fans tweeting into the Jaguars handle upset they weren't getting the best digital experience. We're making other fans jealous and I love that."
There's no doubt that the digital campaign is great and a lot of fun, but what Jags' fans would truly love is some more wins in 2015. Then, the fan base can really go emoji crazy.
Be sure to follow T-Lounge on Twitter and visit our Facebook page.
