NBC’s ‘Hannibal’ continues Twitter campaign with #EmmyRSVP hashtag

Last week, we gave “Hannibal” some serious praise for what was a clever and innovative way to use Twitter in order to basically produce its own “For Your Consideration” Emmy spot without spending hardly any money on it at all. Based on the fact that #EatTheEmmys ended up becoming a trending topic at one point, isn’t it smart that the show would go back and do the same exact thing again this time around?

The image that we’ve included to the left is what many Fannibals (one of the best fan names out there for a show) have changed their Twitter background to as they prepared for the new episode on Thursday night, and there is also the #EmmyRSVP hashtag that the show and many of its producers are encouraging fans to use online.

Just like with last week’s hashtag, it’s a smart choice of words. If you look at the way in which trending topics have evolved over the years, a hashtag of #HannibalDeservesAnEmmy may not receive any interest from someone who is not a viewer of the show, given that everything is already spelled out for them.

However, #EmmyRSVP or #EatTheEmmys makes you want to find out more, and the conversation rate is thus higher to at least convince people to see some more information about the show. Will this actually mean more viewers or Emmy consideration down the road? We have no idea, but you have to admire an outside-the-box approach for what is an outside-the-box network show. It also has a couple of possible contenders on the cast in Hugh Dancy and Mads Mikkelsen.

The Emmys ultimately do need a shake-up not only in the way in which they nominate, but also the way in which they are promoted. Who knows? Even if “Hannibal” does not get any love this year, maybe this sort of promotional method will inspire change in the years to come.

Update: The #EmmyRSVP began trending in the United States moments after we pushed this article, and this is against the NBA Finals. The show has done it again.

Update 2: Now, it has climbed to #1 in America.

Update 3: The trend has climbed up all the way to #2 worldwide, and there is still 40 minutes left in the episode.

Photo: NBC