According to a new campaign from Pedigree, there are 12 million dogs in shelters around the world waiting for a home. To highlight its support of dog adoption for nearly two decades, the brand has introduced AI and machine learning to support even more adoptions.
Adoptable uses a special AI model to transform an original photo of a shelter dog into studio-quality photography. The image can then be used in any Digital Pedigree ad.
The first-of-its-kind initiative combines proprietary technology with Pedigree’s global advertising reach to transform the brand’s digital ads into commercials for shelter dogs.
“Adoptable is a transformational step for us at Pedigree. It puts our purpose at the center of everything we do. “Soon, our advertising will not only take our products around the world, but it will also carry adoptable dogs,” said Fabio Ellings, global brand director of Pedigree.
According to the brand, because Adoptable maps the new image of the dog to the CGI rig, the “digital dog double” can be placed in any pose to suit different media formats. Later, when the featured dog is adopted into a loving home, its advertisement may be taken out of media rotation.
“There is a universal similarity in every advertisement created by Pedigree around the world. There’s always a dog in it, said Simon Vickers, chief creative officer of Colenso BBDO.
“We thought, what if that dog was adoptable? By developing this technology, we can objectively address the business realities of FMCG brands. Increasing sales and product-focused work can now power our ambition to end dog homelessness.”
Pedigree said adoptability not only puts shelter dogs in the spotlight, but it also addresses another major issue affecting dogs, homelessness.
According to the campaign, currently, 1 in 5 dogs adopted are returned to shelters. Through geo-targeting and first-party data, Adoptable Match breeds people in the locations and homes that are best suited for them. EssenceMediacom and Hyper Media made sure the right dogs were seen by the right people.
The launch of Adoptable saw a significant increase in adoption rates. Within the first two weeks, 50% of the featured shelter dogs were adopted, with traffic to the shelter’s profile increasing 6x. Potential pet parents are 12% more likely to adopt when an adopter comes to a shelter through Adoptable Properties.
“Currently, 25% of our media spend goes to purpose-led causes,” said Mehgan Recker, global marketing manager. Adoptable gives us the ability to raise every media dollar we can to get behind our dogs looking for their forever homes. We know that if we can help shelter dogs get seen, we can also help them get adopted.
First launched in New Zealand, Pedigree’s global test market, the Adoptable technology is being refined and rolled out globally.
credit
Client: Mars / LineageOS®
Agency: Colenso BBDO
Production: Nexus Studio
Media Agency: Essence Mediacom/Hyper Media