From La Rambla, a village in the south of Spain, we launch the “Emotijo” campaign to request that the botijo, our most famous pottery piece, becomes known worldwide by including it in the emojis pack of the mobile phone app Whatsapp.
With this campaign we also aim to get promotion for the economy of the pottery sector by spreading the image and importance of this product and its past and present universal value.
The “Emotijo”
The design of the Emotijo was chosen among three different ones through a popular voting process in the village of La Rambla. After several weeks collecting votes from thousands of citizens in the most remarkable and travelled places of the village, finally the most voted design turned out to be the number 1.
The direct involvement of all the citizens of La Rambla has meant a key factor to our campaign, as they have had the responsibility of choosing the final most suitable design of the Emotijo.
Vote for your favourite
A voting process was carried out through which the final image if the Emotijo was decided. We made voting ballots and established two permanent voting posts: the Town Hall and the Youth Centre. Furthermore, we set an itinerant voting calendar in different travelled places in La Rambla. Besides this, we took votes in Facebook from neighbours who were out of the village into account.
The direct involvement of all the citizens of La Rambla has meant a key factor to our campaign, as it has been them who have chosen their favourite design of the Emotijo from the three designs previously submitted.
We are currently collecting signatures with the same methodology, but in this time not only in our village but in the whole province of Cordoba.
The campaign
Once the design is chosen, we have started a new campaign, in which several activities will be carried out, being among them a signature collection to support this project, manufacturing of merchandising products, and a full promotion of the project and the Emotijo design in media to try to make the inclusion of our botijo in Whatsapp a reality.
This proposal has also had a fundamental role in the new Ceramics Fair of La Rambla, called EnBarro 2017, which took place at the beginning of last July in our village, and where the real promotion campaign started.
Who are the promoters?
This is an initiative promoted by the Town Council of La Rambla, and managed by its Centre of Entrepreneurship Development. Furthermore, the implication of all neighbours of La Rambla in the election and promotion of the Emotijo has got a crucial importance.
Why an emoji of the botijo?
The botijo is the most typical pot of the pottery from La Rambla. It is a tool with a long history not only in our village but all around the world, as its use dates back to the Bronze Age (3000 B. C.) in the Mediterranean and Hellenic Greece, where the first archaeological remains of it date back to as well.
It is a container made out of porous fired clay, which is used to store water inside and keep it cool. Although its design has changed along the time, even depending on the geographical area, a botijo is a tool with a bulky body, a handle on the top, a mouth to fill the water in and a spout to drink from.
We consider it is important to include new emojis related to the primary materials and the craftwork in the current pack. Nowadays we can only find a Greek-Latin amphora in it.
We need to highlight the technological importance of the botijo, considered by many as ‘the first fridge in history’, having a wider historical use than many other objects we use in these days.
With this campaign, not only do we want this widely used object to be known worldwide, but also we would like to give the local pottery the importance it deserves.
