2022 Winner
BronzeBest in Experiential/Special Event/Stunts - Budget Over $100,000
CBC
"Pupvertising"
Initiative
"Pupvertising"
Initiative
With over two dozen active streaming services and a $60B increase in television spending over the past five years, Canadians have never had more to watch. With only so much time in the day, the amount of choices are overwhelming. To make matters worse for CBC, Canadians have an inherent bias against content produced in their own country, usually prioritizing American series over
anything created locally.
So with more competition than ever and a geographic disadvantage, the agency was tasked with launching Strays: a new series on CBC about the day-to-day life of working in an animal shelter, starring a small cast of mostly unknown talent.
It had to break through the cluttered content landscape and earn the audience’s attention, and that would require capitalizing on the unique premise of the series and tapping into an avid but underserved community: dog parents.
One unexpected consequence of lockdown was the explosive growth in pet adoption across Canada, with nearly 30% of Canadians adopting a new pet. So, when deciding how to launch a show about animals, it knew that reaching new owners would be critical to building its fanbase, and the best way to capture their attention would be to reach them through their dogs.
Dog parents are unlike any other group of people. Their dogs are not just pets but a part of the family. As with every community, this is a group with their own set of rituals, values and even language, and so building a meaningful connection with them would have to be on their terms.
So it developed Pupvertising: a pup-first media strategy designed to serve their human audience’s furry friends by catering to their unique habits in a way no marketing campaign had ever tried before.
To help locate dogs across Canada, it began by using Acxiom data to identify neighborhoods with the highest density of dogs, dog parks and dog-friendly buildings.
With the audience mapped out, it launched a creative approach catering to canines.
Street-level placements were specifically chosen to attract doggie attention, with additional DOOH placements targeted to local green spaces on nice weather days. The end result: when dogs saw other pets on outdoor advertising, they reacted with a bark and signaled their humans to pay attention too.
Every dog lover knows that the best way to win over their affection is with treats, so that’s exactly what it did next. Targeting the hotspots identified with Acxiom data, it hit their daily walk with ice-cream trucks for dogs to get tails wagging even harder.
Decked out with dog imagery and serving animal-safe ice cream sourced from local shops, the trucks toured the GTA and GVA’s busiest parks serving thousands of pups. This included a stop at the Toronto Humane Society catering to adoptable dogs with the show’s star Nicole Power.
Finally, to ensure no dog was left behind, a partnership with the Weather Network sent nearby dog owners a weather-triggered reminder that it was time for a walk, where they were sure to encounter a special treat along the way. While dogs may not check the weather, the alert helped them remind their owners it was time to get outside where their truck would be waiting.
It created a collection of ice cream trucks for dogs that disrupted the routines of dog parents across the country and were featured on local news outlets where they received a frenzy of attention. The trucks featured animal-safe ice cream, branded cups, CBC Strays decals and brand ambassadors, with routes informed by dog behaviour, location density and engagement triggers. Mobile ads reminded the audience to take a walk where they could meet them and drive hype and excitement around Strays.
Over eight million dog owners were reached, doubling planned impressions. Twelve thousand delighted dogs were served ice cream. The campaign garnered over 3000 social posts on Instagram with thousands of social engagements. Search volume for Strays reached an all-time high in September leading to the premiere, and series promotion drove over 8,300 people to install the CBC Gem App.
anything created locally.
So with more competition than ever and a geographic disadvantage, the agency was tasked with launching Strays: a new series on CBC about the day-to-day life of working in an animal shelter, starring a small cast of mostly unknown talent.
It had to break through the cluttered content landscape and earn the audience’s attention, and that would require capitalizing on the unique premise of the series and tapping into an avid but underserved community: dog parents.
One unexpected consequence of lockdown was the explosive growth in pet adoption across Canada, with nearly 30% of Canadians adopting a new pet. So, when deciding how to launch a show about animals, it knew that reaching new owners would be critical to building its fanbase, and the best way to capture their attention would be to reach them through their dogs.
Dog parents are unlike any other group of people. Their dogs are not just pets but a part of the family. As with every community, this is a group with their own set of rituals, values and even language, and so building a meaningful connection with them would have to be on their terms.
So it developed Pupvertising: a pup-first media strategy designed to serve their human audience’s furry friends by catering to their unique habits in a way no marketing campaign had ever tried before.
To help locate dogs across Canada, it began by using Acxiom data to identify neighborhoods with the highest density of dogs, dog parks and dog-friendly buildings.
With the audience mapped out, it launched a creative approach catering to canines.
Street-level placements were specifically chosen to attract doggie attention, with additional DOOH placements targeted to local green spaces on nice weather days. The end result: when dogs saw other pets on outdoor advertising, they reacted with a bark and signaled their humans to pay attention too.
Every dog lover knows that the best way to win over their affection is with treats, so that’s exactly what it did next. Targeting the hotspots identified with Acxiom data, it hit their daily walk with ice-cream trucks for dogs to get tails wagging even harder.
Decked out with dog imagery and serving animal-safe ice cream sourced from local shops, the trucks toured the GTA and GVA’s busiest parks serving thousands of pups. This included a stop at the Toronto Humane Society catering to adoptable dogs with the show’s star Nicole Power.
Finally, to ensure no dog was left behind, a partnership with the Weather Network sent nearby dog owners a weather-triggered reminder that it was time for a walk, where they were sure to encounter a special treat along the way. While dogs may not check the weather, the alert helped them remind their owners it was time to get outside where their truck would be waiting.
It created a collection of ice cream trucks for dogs that disrupted the routines of dog parents across the country and were featured on local news outlets where they received a frenzy of attention. The trucks featured animal-safe ice cream, branded cups, CBC Strays decals and brand ambassadors, with routes informed by dog behaviour, location density and engagement triggers. Mobile ads reminded the audience to take a walk where they could meet them and drive hype and excitement around Strays.
Over eight million dog owners were reached, doubling planned impressions. Twelve thousand delighted dogs were served ice cream. The campaign garnered over 3000 social posts on Instagram with thousands of social engagements. Search volume for Strays reached an all-time high in September leading to the premiere, and series promotion drove over 8,300 people to install the CBC Gem App.
Credits
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation- Art Director: Edgar Pineda
- Production Design: Jay Lin
- Production: Jason Mulcahy, Daniel Cultraro
- Writer: Ceara Scullion
- Creative Director: Munro Cullen
- Creative Managers: Jayson Chan, Lindsay Dyson
- Senior Communications Officer: Michelle Carpenter
- Marketing Manager: Selina-Rachel Mendez
- Senior Director: Tim Knapp
Initiative Media
- Partnership Lead: Megan Andrews
- Connections Design Lead: Andrew Steyaert
- Client Lead: Cindy Scanlon
- Strategy Team Lead: Jamie Camden
Media Partners
- Pelmorex
- Eat It Up Media
- Outfront
- Pattison