2023 Winner
SilverBest in Experiential/Stunts - Budget Over $100,000
Elanco
"Tick Adoption Centre"
McCann
"Tick Adoption Centre"
McCann
K9 Advantix II is a tick protection treatment for dogs. While it’s the leader of the pack, K9 Advantix II exists in a low interest category – full of products with very little affinity. In truth, most Canadian dog owners know of ticks, but only 1/4 choose to use a tick prevention product.
Not only are tick prevention products less instagrammable than your average dog-sweater, they’re also way more expensive – coming in around $100. At a time when an increased cost-of-living
significantly drove up the cost of pet-ownership, selling a high-price item to
cash strapped pet-owners would be tricky.
Ahead of the traditional summer tick season, with a category that lacked dog owner demand, and a modest budget of only $150K all-in – not only would they need to build a stronger connection to the category, but also ensure that the connection was owned by K9 Advantix II.
Although this category had low interest, there was a growing need. Tick cases across Canada were on the rise, increasing 20x since 2009. Areas labeled high-risk were rapidly expanding beyond the woods and into urban regions.4 More ticks were looking for “furever” homes than ever before.
Consequently, the competitive landscape was increasingly fierce, with most emphasizing the convenience of a chewable treatment. The problem is chewable treatments don’t prevent
tick bites. They only kill ticks after the fact, whereas K9 Advantix II is a topical lotion that
prevents tick bites altogether.
And there lay their realization. Only they had the ability to ensure that dogs didn’t accidentally bring home a homeless blood-feeding critter while out at the park. This informed their one-line insight: If you’re not using K9 Advantix II for your dog…it’s almost like you’re open to adopting a tick.
They launched an activation encouraging people to adopt a tick, including a real-life
tick adoption center.
The “Tick Adoption Centre” opened its doors next to Toronto’s most popular park, Trinity Bellwood’s. Inside, visitors could see real live ticks on display. Except they treated them like lovable pets up for adoption, giving them pet-friendly names. There was Jellybean, Beatrice, Miso, and Karen. Yup, Karen. Each of them had their own biography, too. If that wasn’t enough to make you adopt a tick, there was also a brochure for first-time adoptees that made ticks seem less ick. Even though they totally are.
Beyond the fear-driven humour, visitors to the store were also able to see educational infographics about the rise of tick encounters in urban regions like Toronto, as well as the benefits of a topical treatment like K9 Advantix II to prevent tick encounters. They even had dog treats for pup-sakes.
A series of Tick Adoption kits went out to doggo influencers to drive weekend foot traffic, product visibility, and overall awareness of the issue. To close the loop on e-commerce, they had shoppable QR codes placed on their OOH ads, as well as inside the center, to direct interest to shop for the product online or nearby.
To truly disrupt the lives of dog owners, they knew that such an evocative idea would require an attention-grabbing lead-up. So, the week prior to the adoption centre opening, they launched with a series of OOH wild postings situated in high dog-traffic neighbourhoods across downtown Toronto. This coincided with media on Blog TO and earned media to drive people to their campaign microsite TickAdoption.ca – a hub for educating consumers and announcing the pop-up’s launch.
The “Tick Adoption Centre” earned 13M+ impressions in just over a weekend. And 99% of campaign mentions mentioned the brand.5 After 100+ dog visits, sure, some might say their shop was a failure because zero ticks got adopted. But then again, their messaging was a success.
Overall, they saw an 80% lift in mentions of “ticks” and “dog” across Canada compared to the campaign timeframe last year – including almost 3x the amount of mentions specifically in Ontario YOY.
Interest in the brand also grew, with their search score rising by 84% YOY and their ecommerce conversion rate directly from the campaign exceeded their objective by 32%, just over 1.5x better than the pet industry benchmark. More than that, all the shock and fear also translated into sales, as K9 Advantix II saw 67K+ hours’ worth of tick-free protection sold. 9 100% unsuccessful in tick adoption. 100% successful in tick prevention.
Not only are tick prevention products less instagrammable than your average dog-sweater, they’re also way more expensive – coming in around $100. At a time when an increased cost-of-living
significantly drove up the cost of pet-ownership, selling a high-price item to
cash strapped pet-owners would be tricky.
Ahead of the traditional summer tick season, with a category that lacked dog owner demand, and a modest budget of only $150K all-in – not only would they need to build a stronger connection to the category, but also ensure that the connection was owned by K9 Advantix II.
Although this category had low interest, there was a growing need. Tick cases across Canada were on the rise, increasing 20x since 2009. Areas labeled high-risk were rapidly expanding beyond the woods and into urban regions.4 More ticks were looking for “furever” homes than ever before.
Consequently, the competitive landscape was increasingly fierce, with most emphasizing the convenience of a chewable treatment. The problem is chewable treatments don’t prevent
tick bites. They only kill ticks after the fact, whereas K9 Advantix II is a topical lotion that
prevents tick bites altogether.
And there lay their realization. Only they had the ability to ensure that dogs didn’t accidentally bring home a homeless blood-feeding critter while out at the park. This informed their one-line insight: If you’re not using K9 Advantix II for your dog…it’s almost like you’re open to adopting a tick.
They launched an activation encouraging people to adopt a tick, including a real-life
tick adoption center.
The “Tick Adoption Centre” opened its doors next to Toronto’s most popular park, Trinity Bellwood’s. Inside, visitors could see real live ticks on display. Except they treated them like lovable pets up for adoption, giving them pet-friendly names. There was Jellybean, Beatrice, Miso, and Karen. Yup, Karen. Each of them had their own biography, too. If that wasn’t enough to make you adopt a tick, there was also a brochure for first-time adoptees that made ticks seem less ick. Even though they totally are.
Beyond the fear-driven humour, visitors to the store were also able to see educational infographics about the rise of tick encounters in urban regions like Toronto, as well as the benefits of a topical treatment like K9 Advantix II to prevent tick encounters. They even had dog treats for pup-sakes.
A series of Tick Adoption kits went out to doggo influencers to drive weekend foot traffic, product visibility, and overall awareness of the issue. To close the loop on e-commerce, they had shoppable QR codes placed on their OOH ads, as well as inside the center, to direct interest to shop for the product online or nearby.
To truly disrupt the lives of dog owners, they knew that such an evocative idea would require an attention-grabbing lead-up. So, the week prior to the adoption centre opening, they launched with a series of OOH wild postings situated in high dog-traffic neighbourhoods across downtown Toronto. This coincided with media on Blog TO and earned media to drive people to their campaign microsite TickAdoption.ca – a hub for educating consumers and announcing the pop-up’s launch.
The “Tick Adoption Centre” earned 13M+ impressions in just over a weekend. And 99% of campaign mentions mentioned the brand.5 After 100+ dog visits, sure, some might say their shop was a failure because zero ticks got adopted. But then again, their messaging was a success.
Overall, they saw an 80% lift in mentions of “ticks” and “dog” across Canada compared to the campaign timeframe last year – including almost 3x the amount of mentions specifically in Ontario YOY.
Interest in the brand also grew, with their search score rising by 84% YOY and their ecommerce conversion rate directly from the campaign exceeded their objective by 32%, just over 1.5x better than the pet industry benchmark. More than that, all the shock and fear also translated into sales, as K9 Advantix II saw 67K+ hours’ worth of tick-free protection sold. 9 100% unsuccessful in tick adoption. 100% successful in tick prevention.
Credits
McCann CanadaJosh Stein – Chief Creative Officer
Brian Allen – Executive Creative Director
Justin Tabakian – Art Director
Jordan Finlayson – Copywriter
Dan Dragicevic – Information Architect
Nikki Drakul – Agency Producer
AJ Jones – Chief Strategy Officer
Jeremy Singer – Senior Strategist
Alanna Turney – Group Account Director
Sarah Badke – Account Supervisor
Julie Evans – VP, Executive Media Director
Adam Gaumont – Digital Director
Craft
Antonino Camillo – Product Designer
Luis Santos – Senior Integrated Producer
Jean-Pierre?Goulet – Retouching Artist
Golin Harris
Lindsay Peterson – Managing Director, Canada
Noah Gomberg - Director
Roth & Ramburg
Nordest Studio
Lina Beaudin – Executive Producer
Elanco Canada
Sharon Rowe – Director, Pet Health - Alternative Channels & Innovation
Alyssa West – Customer Marketing Manager, Pet Health
Tamara Hofstede – Regulatory Affairs Advisor
Dr. Kristin Butler-Schmidt – Pet Health Technical Team Lead
Shadi Dastranj – Senior Advisor - Legal
Robert Trempe – Key Account Manager, Pet Health
Erica Meagher – Key Account Manager, Pet Health
Alyson Cross – Trade Marketing Manager, Pet Health
Omair Rehman – Marketing Manager