Nearly 50 years ago, one person gave birth to the iconic smiley face, while someone on the other side of the world turned it into a cash cow worth millions of dollars.
Stepping into The Smiley Co. office in London is a captivating experience. The walls are adorned with vibrant smiley paintings, and the couches are embellished with cheerful smiley plush pillows. Everywhere you look, you’ll find an array of smiley-themed items, from backpacks and T-shirts to exercise balls, toys, chocolates and chicken nuggets shaped like smileys. The atmosphere is filled with the infectious spirit of happiness and positivity that the smiley symbolizes.
This simple yet powerful symbol — a yellow circle, two dots and a smile — has remained relevant throughout 50 years of cultural movements, stretching from the era of free love to raves and the digital revolution.
Along the way, it evolved into a family-owned global licensing empire worth over $500 million annually. But how did it reach such heights?
The question of who truly invented the smiley remains. In 1963, Harvey Ball, a freelance artist based in Worcester, Massachusetts, received a life-changing request from a local client. The State Mutual Life Assurance Co. merged with a competitor and needed a quirky and fun design to uplift employee morale. Within 10 minutes, Ball came up with his famous solution: a bright yellow circle with oval eyes and a creased smile. He was paid a one-time fee of $45 for his creation, which would be equivalent to $446 today.
Although Ball’s version was not the first of its kind — crude renditions of the simple design have been found on 4,000-year-old Turkish pottery, medieval stones and 19th-century letters — his iteration struck a chord and propelled the smiley into mainstream American culture.
Others swiftly capitalized on the symbol’s popularity. In Philadelphia, two Hallmark card shop owners printed it on buttons alongside the phrase “Have a Nice Day.” Bernard and Murray Spain, the brothers behind this venture, sold an impressive 50 million buttons during the height of the Vietnam War.
It became evident that Ball’s seemingly simple illustration had the potential to generate millions of dollars. But he made a critical mistake — he never filed for a trademark.
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Meanwhile, halfway across the world in Paris, a young journalist named Franklin Loufrani had his own stroke of inventiveness. In 1971, while working for the newspaper France-Soir, he grew tired of the constant stream of negative news and decided to create a symbol that would denote positive stories. His creation, a smiling yellow face, bore a striking resemblance to Ball’s smiley.
Unlike Ball, Loufrani recognized the marketing potential of the symbol and promptly secured a French trademark. Loufrani’s son Nicolas revealed that his father’s motivation was primarily financial. “You could say there was a political or social meaning behind what he did, but it was really a commercial act,” the younger Loufrani said.
Armed with the trademark, Loufrani embarked on an ambitious licensing campaign. Although licensing was not a prevalent business model in Europe at the time, Loufrani saw the potential and managed to strike deals with a few newspapers after the smiley’s publication in France-Soir in January 1972. He also realized he needed to expand the reach of the symbol to attract a wide range of industries.
Loufrani recognized a cultural movement taking shape on the streets of France. In the early 1970s, the country experienced its own counter-cultural revolution akin to America’s hippie movement. As students rejected societal norms and embraced free love and a sexual revolution, Loufrani seized the opportunity. He distributed 10 million smiley stickers for free, and soon the symbol’s joyful simplicity became a staple on car bumpers throughout the nation.
As the smiley infiltrated mainstream culture, brands took notice. Companies like Renault Group, The Coca-Cola Co. and Levi Strauss & Co. sought to incorporate the smiley into their marketing campaigns, leading to licensing agreements with Loufrani’s company, The Smiley Co.
In the 1980s, the smiley face gained even more prominence as it became associated with the burgeoning rave and electronic music scene. The symbol found its way onto flyers, posters and clothing worn by partygoers.
In 1996, Nicolas Loufrani took over the management of the company and was on a mission to expand the brand globally. He recognized the potential of digital platforms and formed partnerships with technology companies to create smiley-themed emojis and digital stickers.
Defying his father’s wishes, Loufrani introduced significant updates to the traditional smiley face, transforming it from a static image into a dynamic 3D orb. He named this innovative creation the “new smiley.”
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His decision went against conventional marketing theories that advocate for the preservation of established logos. The elder Loufrani was furious and expressed his disagreement, stating that it was foolish to make such changes. He urged his son to maintain the existing trademarked logo without altering it.
But the move proved to be a huge success as the rise of smartphones and social media led to the widespread use of emojis and digital expressions.
Today, The Smiley Co. boasts impressive annual licensing deals worth nearly $500 million. Its extensive portfolio includes over 300 licensees across 12 significant categories, featuring a diverse range of products from smiley-branded gummies to smiley-branded Rubik’s Cubes. In a 2006 interview with The New York Times, Nicolas Loufrani expressed the importance of registration for commercial usage, comparing it to hitting the jackpot at a casino.
But what happened to Ball? Despite his significant contribution to its creation, he did not profit beyond the original $45 payment he received. He died in 2001 at age 79. However, Ball had no regrets as he believed the smiley had fulfilled its intended purpose. His legacy lives on through the iconic symbol that has become an enduring part of popular culture.
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