Stipop has more than 270,000 stickers. Its collection of character-driven, colorful expressions offers something for all.
Although the company provides keyboard and social apps stickers via ad-supported mobile applications on iOS and Android on both iOS and Android it has recently shifted its focus to providing stickers for developers, creators, and other online businesses.
“We were able to gather so many artists because we actually began as our own app that provided stickers,” Stipop co-founder Tony Park told TechCrunch. They took the lessons they had learned while running their consumer-facing app, namely collecting stickers and licensing them from all over the globe is difficult work. The team then adapted their business model to solve this problem for other artists.
Stipop, a Korean startup, was the first to pass through Yellow. Snapchat’s only accelerator. The company also participates in Y Combinator’s Summer 2021 cohort.
Stipop’s stickers library can be accessed via an SDK or an API. This allows developers to insert the searchable sticker collection into existing software. There are more than 200 companies already using Stipop’s vast sticker library. This makes it a simple solution for tasks that otherwise would require a lot of legwork. Stipop launched a website recently that helps developers integrate its SDK and API through quick installs.
Park stated that users can add just one line of code to their products and have their own customized stickers feature so they can spice up their conversations.
Park points out stickers promote engagement, and that for social media software growth, engagement is key. While stickers are fun and playful for sending characters back-and-forth in chat, they can also be found in other places, such as on dating apps, ecommerce, and ridesharing applications. Stipop is even responsible for the sticker search within Microsoft Teams, a collaboration tool that Microsoft Teams uses.
The company has already partnered with Google, which uses Stipop’s sticker library in Gboard, Android Messages and Tenor, a GIF keyboard platform that Google bought in 2018. The partnership generated 600 million stickers views in the first month. A new partnership between Stipop and Coca-Cola on the near horizon will add Coke-branded stickers to its sticker library and the company is opening its doors to more brands that understand the unique appeal of stickers in messaging apps.
Park states that people often compare stickers to gifs. While they are two different ways of communicating emotion or social nuance in a wordless way, stickers can be viewed as a whole new world. Stickers are a part of their own universe. There are stars, regional themes, and unique characters who take on an individual life among their fans. Park stated that sticker creators are their own professionals.
Even without elaborate illustrations, visual artists are able to find lots of traction by using stickers. They’re more about meaning than refined art, so even non-designers can create hit stickers.
Park stated that stickers are great because they can easily go viral. Park said that the company has worked with more than 8,000 stickers creators in 25 languages to help them monetize and earn income depending on how often a sticker gets shared.
Park observed cultural variations in the way people communicate using stickers around the globe. Stickers are commonly used to replace text in the West. However, in Asia stickers are used more often than text.
Users in East Asia prefer black-and-white stickers. However, Indian and Saudi Arabia are embracing brighter, more colorful stickers. Popular stickers in South America take on a unique, pixelated quality which resonates culturally.
Park stated, “With stickers you fall in love [with] the characters you send…that becomes you.”
Publited at Fri 27 August 2021, 18:42.38 (+0000).
