Philly emojis made by a New York firm have 'tude

The city's tourism-promotion agency is giving smartphone users a chance to text with a Philadelphia accent.

Visit Philadelphia's new downloadable Philadelphia Keyboard puts emoji-sized images of cheesesteaks (Whiz wit, of course), Liberty Bells, and Rocky statues at users' thumb tips for insertion into mobile messages.

The agency hopes the application, released Wednesday, will amplify the increasing buzz around Philadelphia as a tourism destination, said president and chief executive officer Meryl Levitz.

"Word of mouth is the most trusted source of advice for travelers and trip-takers," Levitz said. "This is another fun way for that word of mouth to travel."

The keyboard can be downloaded from the Google Play store and Apple Inc.'s App Store and activated while using messaging applications such as iMessenger, Android MMS and Facebook Messenger.

Users can then select from more than 40 Philadelphia-related images to insert into their messages, ranging from pretzels and cheesesteaks to caricatures of Benjamin Franklin and Betsy Ross.

Other images came from Visit Philadelphia partners, most of whom paid the agency $1,000 for the marketing opportunity, Levitz said. Among those are local university logos, as well as a mini Dietz & Watson hoagie and a Victory Brewing Co. bottle cap.

Philadelphia sports teams are absent from the lineup because of licensing and trademark issues, Levitz said.

The collection will be updated with a rotating roster of seasonal images, including a Mummer ahead of next winter's holidays, and icons tied to forthcoming events, such as the Philadelphia Flower Show.

"It encourages more sharing, more fan-ing, more following, more communication about Philly," Levitz said.

Alas, the Philly-centric app was developed by - insert "disappointed face" here - a New York digital firm: Snaps Media Inc.

The company has built keyboards for more than 75 brands, including Pepsi, Victoria's Secret, and Comedy Central, though the Philadelphia app is its first with a tourism bent, said product marketing chief Chris Brown.

The message-friendly images are an effective way to promote brands - or tourism destinations - because they are sent from trusted friends and other acquaintances, rather than being broadcast as advertisements, Brown said.

"Our users are self-selecting content they want to share with their friends," he said. "It's like a peer-recommendation when content is shared that way."

jadelman@phillynews.com
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@jacobadelman