On Friday (Nov. 3), BTS earned their second Twitter emoji — connected to the hashtags #BTSxAMAs and #ARMYxAMAs — following the announcement that they will be performing their record-breaking single, “DNA,” at the American Music Awards on Nov. 19.
The AMAs appearance will be the K-pop superstars’ first time performing on an American awards show after making their debut appearance on one at the Billboard Music Awards in May, where they won Top Social Artist over big-name acts like Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez.
The new emoji is based on the group’s newly redesigned logo, which they unveiled in July with an animated video.
Oh! Look what you did, @BTS_twt army ?? #BTSxAMAs
There’s another hashtag that makes the emoji appear. See if you can find it!
— AMAs (@AMAs) November 3, 2017
The group previously became the first K-pop act to get their own Twitter emoji back in May 2016 when #????? and #BTS summoned their old logo, designed like a bulletproof vest — a reference to their Korean name Bangtan Sonyeondan (which literally means “Bulletproof Boy Scouts”).
That emoji was used to track fans across the world for a global contest, awarding the top five countries with video messages from the members themselves.
#BTS has its own Twitter emoji! 5 countries with the most amount of tweets will get their own special video message! pic.twitter.com/px85Ud8RDW
— BTS_official (@bts_bighit) May 13, 2016
Branded hashtag emojis have become a marketing staple on Twitter since the World Cup’s “hashflag” was introduced in 2014 and are a fitting addition to BTS’ branding arsenal. After all, one of the boy band’s latest collaborators, Steve Aoki, acknowledged their gift for brand development.
“They’re brand developers,” the dance DJ told Billboard. “They developed their own brand, and they’re global. It’s incredible working with artists like that.”?