One day in May of 2015, Erik Zamudio and Gregg Morton came up with the idea of their company Fooji during lunchtime. They were debating what to get to satisfy their hunger when they came up with a solution of using emojis to randomly select popular meals from local restaurants. This duo wasted no time and filed for a patent the very next day. Fooji started working with large brands such as Verizon, and with their growing success then pivoted to working only with other businesses. Erik and Greg came to the realization that Fooji could be used to reinvent social media marketing. The way Fooji does this is through hashtags paired with emojis on social media platforms to trigger the delivery of products, which creates an interaction that effectively connects brands and their customers. Fooji has worked with many famous clients such as Disney, Amazon, Adidas, Kohl’s, and Lay’s.

One example of how Fooji has implemented their innovative solution is their Silicon Valley project. They partnered with HBO to help promote season five of the show Silicon Valley. Fans who tweeted #Sliceline and a pizza emoji would via drone be delivered a pizza in a box designed to resemble one of the companies in the show, Sliceline. Fooji targeted fans of the show, relevant influencers, venture capitalists, journalists, and actors form the show. This movement reached #1 trending on Twitter in the U.S., and Fooji was praised for it’s distinctive deliveries and innovation.

Fooji started out with a purpose to solve a specific problem (indecisiveness in choosing what to have for lunch), but later pivoted when they recognized an opportunity that they could take advantage of. This is an example of entrepreneurial thinking, which includes constant evolution and the liquid nature of ideas. Erik Zamudio and Gregg Morton did not have this grand vision of revolutionizing social media marketing from the start, but their original idea lead to what Fooji is now.

Erik Zamudio said in an interview, “Reinvention is really breaking something down and completely revisiting what it meant originally.” Fooji took a look a the current state of social media marketing and questioned if things have to be the way they are. This is evidence that the solution Fooji struck upon is truly innovative. The story of Fooji is a reminder of the vast opportunities for innovation everywhere you look.

https://www.forbes.com/profile/erik-zamudio/?list=30under30-marketing-advertising&sh=3ab589c22cce

https://fooji.com/about

https://blog.fooji.com/the-story-of-fooji-%EF%B8%8F-1937df3159c4