The Campaign

In NZ Branded Entertainment is in its infancy. As a result broadcasters and stations are restrictive. In this case we managed to gain support of national cinema chains by developing a truly groundbreaking piece of technology that worked seamlessly with our creative execution. It also helped that it was for a good cause. As momentum grew for our campaign - with national coverage of both our cause and innovation - it was impossible for consumers and broadcasters alike to not get behind us. In New Zealand this was one of the most talked about Branded Entertainment pieces in recent history.

Results

Every year, the PEDIGREE Adoption Drive offers support to abandoned dogs across the country. This year we wanted to demonstrate the power of a donation in a memorable and fresh way. So we partnered with a remarkable production company and developed a way for cinemagoers to watch two different films on the same screen at the same time. Utilising this groundbreaking innovation, we then showed two parallel stories; the first of a mistreated dog who gets rescued, the second of the same mistreated dog who tragically never gets found. Before the movie, cinemagoers were faced with a choice. They could donate and receive a yellow pair of glasses, or pay nothing and receive a red pair. That choice decided the fate of the dog on screen. The week the cinema experience went live it was accompanied by a national PR and advertising campaign. The momentum grew as more and more stations covered our story. Resulting in cinemas getting behind the remarkable experience in full force – even asking us to advertise our commercial in their movie listings! The result was a profoundly moving experience; one that broke fundraising records and got the whole country talking about our cause.

The week the cinema experience went live it was accompanied by a national PR and advertising campaign. The momentum grew as more and more stations covered our story. Resulting in cinemas getting behind the remarkable experience in full force – even asking us to advertise our commercial in their movie listings! The result was a profoundly moving experience; one that broke fundraising records and got the whole country talking about our cause.

This remarkable cinema experience got the nation talking. It changed behavior, opinions and broke fundraising records. The cinema experience ran from July to August. In that time we raised more in public donations that the entire PEDIGREE Adoption Drive activity for the previous year. In one case, a man left the cinema (before the feature) and dropped $50 into a collection bucket. Based on the national and international media attention the campaign received, MARS have chosen to run the cinema experience globally for the PEDIGREE Adoption Drive – probably the greatest indication of a campaign’s success anyone could share.