#TAKEMEMEHOME

Short List
Title#TAKEMEMEHOME
BrandPEDIGREE® / MARS LLC
Product/ServicePEDIGREE® THE ADOPTION DRIVE
Category A08. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) / Corporate Image
Entrant BBDO Moscow, RUSSIA
Idea Creation BBDO Moscow, RUSSIA
Media Placement MEDIACOM Moscow, RUSSIA
PR RODNYA CREATIVE PR STUDIO Moscow, RUSSIA
Production BBDO Moscow, RUSSIA
Credits
Name Company Position
Olga Kostrova Mars Petcare Russia Marketing Director
Nailya Alieva Mars Petcare Russia Senior Brand Manager PEDIGREE®
Anastasiya Savkina Mars Petcare Russia Brand Manager PEDIGREE®
Natalia Mikhaylova Mars Petcare Russia Digital & Media Head
Anastasia Barabanova Mars Petcare Russia Digital Specialist
Natalia Tsyganova BBDO Russia Group Managing Director
Alexey Fedorov BBDO Russia Group Executive Creative Director
Natasha Teddy BBDO Russia Group Creative Group Head
Alexander Sinyuk BBDO Russia Group Copywriter
Denis Bykov BBDO Russia Group Copywriter
Sofya Tsytkina Creative Group Head BBDO Russia Group
Anton Beketov BBDO Russia Group Junior Copywriter
Andrey Krusanov BBDO Russia Group Digital Art Director
Yulia Belyakova BBDO Russia Group Web-designer
Valery Gorokhov BBDO Russia Group Senior Producer
Dmitry Balandin BBDO Russia Group Junior Producer
Yuriy Marin BBDO Russia Group Senior Digital Producer
Anna Khitko BBDO Russia Group Senior Strategic Planner
Vera Zgurskaya BBDO Russia Group Strategic Planner
Polina Ptachek BBDO Russia Group Digital Strategic Planning Director
Olga Zhosanu BBDO Russia Group Digital Strategic Planner
Evgeniya Lukonina BBDO Russia Group Digital Analyst
Oleg Shcherbakov BBDO Russia Group Junior Analyst
Anastasiya Dubrovskaya BBDO Russia Group Business Director
Katrin Auashria BBDO Russia Group Group Account Director
Asya Shapievskaya BBDO Russia Group Senior Account Manager
Julia Saponova BBDO Russia Group Photographer
Daniya Valitova MediaCom Special Projects Group Head
Nadezhda Zagrebina MediaCom Senior Media Planner
Serafima Gurova RODNYA Creative PR Studio CEO & Founder
Pavel Kuzin MediaCom Special Project Manager
Vera Sivacheva RODNYA Creative PR Studio Account Director
Julia Striganova RODNYA Creative PR Studio NewsLab Lead
Ekaterina Akulich RODNYA Creative PR Studio Account Manager
Uliana Salenko RODNYA Creative PR Studio Junior Account Manager
Nikita Belov RODNYA Creative PR Studio Media Geek

Why is this work relevant for Direct?

PEDIGREE® #TakeMEMEhome is a textbook direct campaign designed to precisely target future dog owners. Shelter-dogs have bad publicity in Russia. We decided to make them more relatable and prove that anyone can find their doggy soulmate in a shelter. The idea was based on a simple insight — people relate to memes because they resonate with them, creating a sense of identification. We created a unique meme for each dog based on their personalities, shared them in thematic communities in social networks, and matched people with the right doggies for them, who could then become their perfect companions.

Background

When someone wants to get a dog, breed often determines which type of dog to choose, because different breeds have well-known characteristics: Retrievers are famously family-friendly, Jack Russel Terriers are active, and Border Collies are easy to train. But when it comes to shelter dogs this crucial connection is missing. People just think of some sad characterless dogs and struggle to differentiate between them. But “shelter dog” is not a breed or character. We wanted to show that all shelter dogs are different, they have unique personalities, and anyone can find their perfect dog in the shelter.

Describe the creative idea (30% of vote)

How do we make people say: “This dog is for me!”? By literally making them say: “It’s me!” We achieved this by using a very popular type of content called “relatable” or “it’s me when” memes. These memes are more than just for laughs, they make people recognize themselves, say something personal and fuel connection. It seems like there is some type of relatable content for anyone. Just like our dogs! We created unique memes for every dog based on their personalities, and then shared them in thematic communities in social networks. For example, we picked active dogs, created memes about jogging and posted them in communities for running enthusiasts. For those who prefer to spend their time on a cozy sofa we posted memes in communities about tv-shows and movies, family-friendly children-loving dogs were featured in communities for parents and so forth.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

One of the biggest barriers to adoption is that people see shelter dogs as some kind of impersonal, characterless dogs who don’t belong to anyone. Nowadays belongingness plays a very important role. That’s why people relate to memes; because they resonate with them, creating a sense of identification. We form groups, and this identification with meme culture is largely connected with a feeling of “I’m not alone”. We decided to show that shelter dogs all have very different personalities, they’re not all the same. To make people realize that somebody just like them is waiting in the shelter we produced “it’s me when” memes with shelter dogs and seeded them in social networks, the most natural environment for this type of content. When a person reacted to the meme, he immediately got a chance to meet their new best fur friend with whom they had so much in common.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

To produce memes we went to shelters to get to know the dogs better, shot more than 10 000 funny and cute photos & videos of the doggies and then turned them into relatable memes. Based on the dogs’ personalities we created unique content for each dog and seeded it in different thematic communities in social networks. We had memes for everyone: running addicts, workaholics, foodies, beauty enthusiasts, parents, movie lovers and many more. As soon as a meme was posted in the community and someone shared it or commented, the same shelter dog replied to this user and suggested how they could make each other’s lives better. To make this work we created Social Networks profiles for every dog with all the necessary information: its’ bio, photos and shelter contacts. We also created a website with all the memes and profiles together in one place.

List the results (30% of vote)

326 memes were seeded across different communities in Social Networks. This content triggered more than 300,000 interactions with dogs. The engagement rate on Instagram alone was 38% higher when compared with average market benchmark. Users commented on memes a lot: they related to situations, supported our doggies, shared the content and appreciated the non-standard positive approach to the topic of dog adoption. People loved and supported this brand initiative: 99% of all brand mentions during and after the activation were positive. Celebrities, influencers and the mass media supported “Take MEME Home”. Overall, over the duration of the campaign we achieved 97 million impressions and reached 22% of our target audience. The number of adoption requests doubled, other shelters loved the idea and even made copycat campaigns with their dogs. And the most important result is that our “memes” were taken home!