WhatsApp celebrates double-digit growth in daily users, launches race car emoji

Delhi: WhatsApp announced a double-digit growth in its daily users and messages sent across its platform in the United States. The private messaging service lit up the Empire State Building green and launched a race car emoji to celebrate this growth.

WhatsApp unveiled a custom race car emoji, available for immediate integration into chats for over two billion users, coinciding with the Miami Grand Prix 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 tower lights a bright WhatsApp green.

WhatsApp and Mercedes-AMG F1 will bring the emoji to life by closing down Fifth Avenue for a Formula One car demonstration in Manhattan. According to the media release, Hamilton will be driving the speed demo, accompanied by 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 and we’re excited to celebrate this growth together with Mercedes and the Empire State Building.” 

Hamilton and Toto Wolff kicked off a multi-day series of events in New York to help WhatsApp bring the race to fans everywhere ahead of the Miami Grand Prix. 

Wolff, CEO and Team Principal, of the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team, 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,” he added.

Hamilton said, “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 late last year announced a partnership with the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team.

WhatsApp’s partnership with the team is its latest collaboration with athletes, following Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Afghan Youth Women’s National Football team.