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Amazing Race Canada S4E4: Is Emoji the Language of Marketing?

by | Jul 21, 2016 | Analysis, Social Media, Television

Amazing Race Canada Season 4

Having cut their TV teeth on Big Brother Canada, Jillian and Emmett are the famous ones in this year’s version of Amazing Race Canada. Season 4’s version of Hal and Joanne, if you will.

Like Hal and Joanne ━ who were eliminated in Episode 5 of Season 1 ━ Jillian and Emmett learned in S4E4 that fame won’t save you, as they came in seventh, avoiding elimination by the slimmest of margins.

And good thing, too, because the Twitter data collected by our Enterprise software shows that losing them would’ve been bad for the overall chatter that the show generates. Team Jillian and Emmett have never placed lower than second in terms of contestant mentions, a trend that continued this week, the the duo earning the greatest share of voice in both Episodes 1 and 2.

But this week’s episode should be remembered not for what might’ve been, but for what was.

It was Kelly and Kate’s time to shine.

The peppy little duo ━ themselves so close to elimination in Episode 2 ━ scored a victory this week after blowing away the competition (and impressing it, too) with their karaoke skills.

And the reply:

Take a second to look at those tweets again. Depending on your age, you may have noticed those little graphics scattered throughout. For the over-40 crowd (over-50? over-60?), we call those emojis, and they’re the language of the new generation.

And they’re quickly becoming the language of the Amazing Race Canada, too.

Three of the top four most mentioned teams this week employ emojis in their own tweets with such frequency and aplomb that the more you read them, the more you understand and the less you notice.

As evidenced by that last one, if you need a crash course in emoji-speak, head over to Kelly and Kate’s Twitter page.

Despite a distinct absence of emojis in MEC’s Twitter activity, it once again put on a display in how to run a multi-pronged marketing campaign, by first initiating conversations…

…and even shouting out ARC contestants:

And although fellow show sponsor Chevrolet Canada was, for its part, all but silent on the Twitter machine with just the one tweet, we know for a fact that it can speak the language.

As the teams return to Canada next week, landing in beautiful Haida Gwaii, we’ll be watching to see which brands and teams do the best job engaging the audience of Amazing Race Canada.

Most mentioned contestants:

amazing race canada, ARC chart, chart

  1. Joel & Ashley (Finished 5th) 27.7% DOWN 7.1%
    Joel Ground (@JoelGround /@Joel_and_Ashley), Ashley Callingbull (@ashcallingbull / @Joel_and_Ashley)
  2. Jillian & Emmett (Finished 7th) 23.8% DOWN 2.1%
    Jillian MacLaughlin (@JillianMacLaugh), Emmett Blois (@EmmettBlois)
  3. Steph & Kristen (Finished 2nd) 13.5% UP 3.6%
    Steph LeClair (@sleclair09), Kristen McKenzie (@krlstenmckenzie)
  4. Kelly & Kate (Finished 1st) 12.5% UP 7.5%
    Kelly Xu (@kelly_kateTO), Kate Pan (@kelly_kateTO)
  5. Julie & Lowell (Finished 6th) 10.6% UP 6.8%
    Julie Taylor (@JulieLowellCAN), Lowell Taylor (@JulieLowellCAN)
  6. Frankie & Amy (Finished 4th) 5.0% UP 4.1% 
    Frankie Gassler (@FrankieFenix74), Amy Gassler (@amygassler)
  7. Anne & Tanya (Eliminated) 4.8% DOWN 2.4%
    Anne Morrone (@AnneMorrone), Tanya Muzzatti (@tanyamuzzatti)
  8. Rita & Yvette (Finished 3rd) 2.1% UP 0.9%
    Rita Yakibonge (@ritayakis), Yvette Yakibonge (@yyakis)

 

Marcus Kaulback

Marcus Kaulback

Marcus is a content creator and marketer with a focus on branding and communications.