iWorld
WhatsApp launches new race car emoji with Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 team
Mumbai: WhatsApp is lighting up the Empire State Building green and launching a new race car emoji to celebrate its rapid growth in the United States, announcing double-digit growth in both daily users and messages sent on WhatsApp in the U.S.
Today, WhatsApp released the new custom race car emoji that over two billion users will be able to use immediately in their chats, just in time for the Miami Grand Prix this coming weekend. Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 driver Lewis Hamilton, and CEO and team principal Toto Wolff, together flipped the Empire State Building’s famous light switch and turned the building’s iconic tower lights a bright WhatsApp green. The lighting was followed by a dynamic light show takeover of the building’s façade, which featured an animated projection of the new emoji racing through New York City.
The celebration continues tomorrow, when WhatsApp and Mercedes-AMG F1 will bring the emoji to life as it shuts down Fifth Avenue for the first-ever demonstration of a Formula One car in Manhattan. Hamilton will be at the wheel of the speed demo, taking place alongside a life-sized replica of the emoji race car.
Will Cathcart, Head of WhatsApp said: “Year after year WhatsApp is gaining solid ground in the U.S. because people want a private and secure way to communicate across platforms. WhatsApp is not only the best way to chat about a race with friends around the world, but also within the U.S. too, and we’re excited to celebrate this growth together with Mercedes and the Empire State Building.
Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 team CEO and team principal Toto Wolff said: “In recent years, our sport and WhatsApp have both been on an impressive growth journey in the United States. The partnership between ourselves as a team and WhatsApp, our official messaging partner, is therefore a natural fit. We rely daily on WhatsApp for the privacy and security it affords in our communications, which is vital in F1.
“We are also both passionate about connecting people through shared experiences, committed to telling incredible stories, and setting the benchmark in our respective fields. As we prepare for the first stateside Grand Prix this year, it is fantastic to celebrate our collaboration with several iconic moments and activations in New York City that are certain to get people talking.”
Lewis Hamilton said: “I’ve always felt a special connection with the United States. I remember going to
New York as a kid and dreaming about living in the city and I’ve been fortunate to spend a lot of time here since then. I’ve had many incredible experiences and connected with many amazing people in New York, but to drive an F1 car down Fifth Avenue and light up the Empire State Building is incredibly special. It’s something I never thought would be possible and it’s been even better to do it in partnership with WhatsApp, an app that keeps my connection to the US alive by making it easy to stay in touch with so many people stateside.”
WhatsApp has become the leading choice for private cross-platform communication in the U.S.. No matter what phone you or your friends have, you can always share HD photos and videos, react in realtime in group chats that aren’t broken by blue-bubble/green-bubble, make voice and video calls to each other, all with the privacy and security of end-to-end-encryption. And now, you even access Meta’s most advanced AI from right within WhatsApp. Coinciding with the massive and growing popularity of Formula 1 in the United States, WhatsApp late last year announced a partnership with the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team. As the official messaging partner for the team, WhatsApp is committed to bringing fans even closer to the sport.
iWorld
Spotify spotlights Premium with AI DJ and Lossless Audio push
Five week campaign highlights personalisation and high fidelity listening.
MUMBAI: Your playlist just got a promotion and it now comes with a DJ who never sleeps. Spotify is turning up the volume on its Premium proposition, rolling out a new campaign that places product features not just music centre stage.
At the heart of the push are two upgrades: AI DJ and Lossless Audio. Rather than pitching them as add-ons, Spotify positions these as the engines quietly reshaping how people listen, moving the experience from passive playback to something far more intuitive and immersive.
The campaign unfolds through two feature-led films rooted in everyday listening moments. One spot leans into AI DJ as a hyper-personalised curator, adapting in real time to mood, taste and listening patterns essentially turning algorithms into something that feels almost human. The other film zooms in on Lossless Audio, emphasising richer, high-fidelity sound that captures nuances often lost in compressed streaming.
It’s a strategic shift in storytelling. Instead of selling access to content, Spotify is selling how that content feels smarter, sharper, and more tailored to the individual listener.
The rollout is equally expansive. The five-week campaign spans digital video, connected TV, audio, out-of-home, social media and in-app integrations, ensuring visibility across both digital and physical touchpoints. The idea is clear: meet users wherever they are, and remind them that Premium is designed to follow.
There’s also a strong regional layer baked in. With integrations across Tamil and Telugu music, Spotify is leaning into India’s linguistic diversity, acknowledging that personalisation in this market is as much cultural as it is technological.
The broader play is hard to miss. In an increasingly crowded streaming landscape, differentiation is no longer just about catalogue size or pricing. It’s about experience. By foregrounding AI-led curation and high-quality audio, Spotify is betting that the next phase of competition will be won not by what users listen to, but how they listen to it.
And if this campaign is anything to go by, the platform is keen to ensure that every tap of the play button feels a little more like a performance.
