BBDO Moscow

Client: Mars Petcare Russia
Product: Pedigree
Title: #TakeMEMEHome
Media: Digital
Country: Russia
Date Of Campaign: March 2019

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.

Idea: 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. 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.

Results: 326 memes were seeded across different communities in Social Networks. This content triggered more than 200,000 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. 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!