We love spending time with people who usually have friendly smiles. A smile is contagious, implying that we respond when we see someone smiling. There is a World Smile Day dedicated to the gesture. Even big corporate brands have used the day to highlight the importance of smiling through their products or services.
World Smile Day is observed on the 7th of October every year to convey that we all should keep smiling while facing challenges. That is the way to lead our life with a purpose. The world celebrates the day with a spirit of joy.
But the day is not just about an individual’s smile. It is more about making others happy. So those struggling with life and looking for some moments of celebration should be made more comfortable on this day.
Therefore, people volunteer for charity to bring smiles to the faces of the underprivileged. So, non-profit organizations and individuals take it up to themselves that they offer something that becomes memorable to those who need it the most.
Brands also highlight World Smile Day by using their products or services to spread the message. Almost all the small to big companies explore this day not just to send a message but also to promote their brands.
How it all started?
World Smile Day has a history of its own, and it started in 1963 when graphic artist Harvey Ball created a smiley face symbol. He was in creating advertisements. Soon, this smiley symbol became part of world popular culture.
Since then, the symbol got featured in movies such as ‘Forrest Gump.’ It also was a part of a graphic novel, ‘Watchmen.’ The yellow circle with black dots for the eyes is among the most recognized symbols in the digital and physical world.
World Smile Day was announced as an official holiday in 1993. People smiled on the day and did some acts of kindness worldwide.
From The Smiley Icon To Modern Emojis
The Smiley icon that Harvey Ball once created now has its family of yellow emoticons that people across the globe use in their digital communication to express emotions. These are now known as emojis, which have become a pictorial language of the digital and physical world.
These emojis represent almost all of our emotions, including happiness, sadness, and anger. So, an emoji becomes a way to highlight the mood expressed in a message.
Why should we smile very often?
Smiling is not just about showing your nice side of personality. That is a basic to presenting yourself as a likable person. But there are many other aspects of a smile to consider so that you benefit from it.
Scientifically speaking, our body creates the neurotransmitters known as endorphins when we smile. These neurotransmitters give us the feeling of pleasure and happiness.
That is why we are relieved of our tension and stress when we smile. So many of our mental and physical diseases are due to our daily stress. Emojis function as stress relievers as we send or get messages with smiling emojis, which lightens our mood. These yellow smiley emojis fill us with energy and boost our confidence.
Another reason to smile is that it relaxes us and makes us less stressed, sad, and anxious. Life is about facing and accepting challenges, and confronting them with a smile on your face is best.
World Smiley Day reminds us that we should spend our lives joyfully, and putting on a smile is good enough to cross the barriers successfully.
Activities For World Smile Day
Many organizations use volunteers to help those who desperately need it. Or, they simply clean the environment around them and do some charitable activities.
This is also the day when you can remind yourself of your dreams. Then, you can start something that you have always wanted to work on for yourself. So, make this day an excuse to indulge in something you cannot in your busy life. How about picking that guitar from the closet and playing your favorite song on it? Or, you could paint a picture that you had in mind.
Involve Yourself In The Act of Kindness
The best way to celebrate World Smiley Day is to brighten others’ lives. You can help people around. Or compliment people around you on their achievements or thank those who work for you.
Brands Using World Smile Day
World Smile Day has been featured as an expression of joy and spreading happiness worldwide. Besides people using the day to highlight the significance of smiling very often, brands were also at the forefront of conveying the message to their target audiences.
Some Leading Brands Used Their Products or Services To Highlight World Smile Day
01. Britannia Good Day
Britannia Good Day celebrated World Smile Day with its #EverySmileMatters campaign. With the food company logo visible to the customers, the brand asked people what held them back from smiling. The brand encouraged consumers to smile more often for a good day.
02. 7UP
7UP India created a unique video to encourage people to smile. The video shows a player striking the coins on the board, and they take a smile shape, making the message That’s How You Strike A Message.
03. Brand Whiz
Brand Whiz, an advertising agency, created a simple drawing of a smiling face with two dots and a smile, creating the face. Its message of a smile is the shortest distance between two people wins hearts.’
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04. Light and Free
Light and Free is a world-renowned yogurt brand. It came up with a smiley emoticon to spread the message of smile and happiness. The food company used small yogurt packages as eyes to make the smiling face.
05. Huffington Post Canada
Huffington Post Canada created its brand name into a smiley face with a smiley sign underneath it. That was an intelligent way to protect its brand and send a happy message across the globe.
06. Argüden Academy
The Arguden Governance Academy brings all the experts and expertise under one roof for a comprehensive view of governance. The company devised a creative idea on World Smile Day to spread the message. It depicted three birds flying with the two shaped up as the eyes and the bigger one as the smile.
07. Sidley
Sidley Austin LLP, an international law firm, launched its ‘Once Upon A Time’ hashtag campaign on World Smile Day. It invited people to use the hashtag #mysmilemoment to post their smile moments on social media.
08. Menchie’s
Menchie’s is in the business of making sweet and sour yogurt. So it offered made-for-Smile Day Fro-YO to celebrate smile day and was a great way to do more business while spreading a message of happiness.
09. Smile Train
Smile Train is a child nonprofit organization and charity that works for orphaned children. On World Smile Day, the organization created colorful artwork to send out the message of helping and spreading happiness.
10. 49’s Draw
There have been various giveaway events and lotteries as well this Smile Day. Our favorite is 49’s Draw, where participants are asked to like, and re-tweet presenter smiles to participate in the draw.
So, these are some of the brands that made good use of World Smiley Day in previous years. These examples show how brands can cleverly promote themselves amongst target audiences using such occasions.
If you also want to explore World Smile Day this year to send your brand message to target customers, you can create it using Designhill, the leading marketplace. Then, launch your design contest on this marketplace, and many designers will come up with unique ideas, responding to your brief.
Alternatively, you can hire a talented designer from the marketplace to work one-to-one to create something unique for the day in line with your brand message.
Wrapping Up
World Smile Day is about spreading smiles and happiness everywhere. It is a day to emphasize the importance of being happy. Brands have been at the forefront of conveying the message by using their products or services to highlight the significance of the day yearly.