Edition 93.

In case you’re among the 100+ million people set to tune in to the Super Bowl tonight, I’ll keep this edition light (and fun).

5 fun email facts to inform and inspire you this week:

The email provider I use for e-commerce, Omnisend, dropped a “Year in Email” recap this week.

The “fun edition” 🤪

They analyzed over 26 *billion* emails (yes, billion with a B)

— to spot playful patterns instead of performance benchmarks.

Because sometimes we need a break from the serious numbers and data.

Think emojis, pop culture, Internet lingo, and the clever ways brands showed up in the inbox.

Here are a few highlights from the report worth stealing for your own campaigns:

1. Emojis are the new punctuation marks.

Sparkles, flames, and party hat emojis are working hard. These were among the top emojis used in email campaigns:

• ✨ Used over 65,000 times
• 🔥 over 53,000 times
• 🎉 over 37,000

Emojis are basically the new exclamation point.

Subject lines leaned visual, playful, and expressive.

Inbox takeaway: if your email open rates feel flat, try speaking in symbols, not sentences. It’s worth an A/B test.

2. Pop culture’s the ultimate icebreaker.

Brands referenced movies and TV shows a lot.

Think Batman, mentioned in 18.7% of campaigns.

And Bluey, mentioned in 29.2% of campaigns.

Familiar names cut through because they already live rent-free in people’s minds.

Borrowing pop culture shorthand is an easy way to sound timely and relevant without trying too hard.

3. Animals rule the inbox.

Of all email campaigns that mentioned animals, owls and lions led the pack.

Cats and dogs cracked the top mentions, too.

Quirky wins for those brands whose tone grants that range (p.s. it’s not for everyone - or every brand).

4. Internet culture meets “chronically online” audiences.

Labubus. Stanley cups. Protein everything. Internet culture showed up loud and clear across campaigns.

Brands are writing for the digitally fluent, speaking the language of those “chronically online.”

Winning brands spot (and speak) trends in real time.

Here were the top “Internet culture” keyword mentions:

5. “Exclusive” marketing words and clichés.

• Everything’s exclusive. Over 74,000 campaigns promised something “exclusive,” which is ironic (shares the report), because exclusivity usually means fewer people. Overused?
• Sorry, not sorry. 6,851 campaigns used “oops” or “sorry.” Mistakes happen (think broken links, wrong prices, or date mix-ups). And the apology campaign often came with a discount code.
• Hiiiii. 82% of campaigns opened with a “Hi” or “Hey.” Casual, friendly, human. The inbox still prefers conversation over formality.

Next week, I’m back in full brand-byte force.

Currently knee-deep in agency-level trend reports, platform research, and big-spender insights.

I’m talking *hundreds* of pages that I’ll synthesize into bite-sized takes for you...

(so you can spot the brand patterns and data early, and apply them fast).

One new term I found that’s already got my brain churning: “AI-generated audiences” 🤯

Yes.

We’re officially on the timeline where we’re not just persuading humans, but the bots and algorithms acting on their behalf, too.

Just wait until you see how people are using this...

More brand bytes next Sunday at 5!