DRIVING DOGS

Bronze Spike

Case Film

Presentation Board

TitleDRIVING DOGS
BrandMINI / SPCA NEW ZEALAND
Product / ServiceDOG ADOPTION
CategoryA06. Best Use of Other Digital Platforms in a Direct Campaign
EntrantDRAFTFCB NEW ZEALAND Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Entrant Company DRAFTFCB NEW ZEALAND Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Advertising Agency DRAFTFCB NEW ZEALAND Auckland, NEW ZEALAND

Credits

Name Company Position
Mark Vette Animals On Q Director - Animals On Q
Steph Pearson Draftfcb New Zealand Digital Director
Harri Owen Draftfcb New Zealand Head Of Digital And Content
Sarah Mcewen Draftfcb New Zealand Planner/Media Buyer
Rufus Chuter Draftfcb New Zealand Communications Planning Director
Rachel Leyland Draftfcb New Zealand Media Manager
Simon Teagle Draftfcb New Zealand General Manager - Media
Eloise Hay Draftfcb New Zealand Account Manager - PR
Angela Spain Draftfcb New Zealand General Manager - PR
Stephanie Hueber Draftfcb New Zealand Account Manager
Sally Willis Draftfcb New Zealand Account Director
Toby Sellers Draftfcb New Zealand Group Account Director
Nick Mcfarlane Draftfcb New Zealand Senior Designer
Blair Walker Draftfcb New Zealand Head Of Post Production
Marco Siraky Draftfcb New Zealand Director/Dop
Matt Williams Draftfcb New Zealand Creative
Peter Vegas Draftfcb New Zealand Creative
Regan Grafton Draftfcb New Zealand Executive Creative Director
Tony Clewett Draftfcb New Zealand Executive Creative Director
James Mok Draftfcb New Zealand Asia Pacific Executive Creative Director

The Brief

In New Zealand, shelter dogs are seen as second rate. Most traditional adoption advertising reinforces this perception by painting the dogs as victims. This further makes finding homes for these animals a real challenge. We needed to change this. We needed to make these animals first choice. MINI, as a long standing, but little known, sponsor wanted to help.

Creative Execution

People need to trust a dog with their family, so it was crucial we proved shelter dogs can be trained (and trained well) in the most compelling, convincing way possible. The campaign was a genuine world first. We had to devise an 8 week “dog driving” training course; modify a car so a dog could drive it; and then film them behind the wheel actually driving. By making heroes of the dogs we also subverted conventional adoption advertising which often paints the dogs as victims. And, we did this all in the funloving tone that is MINI – the sponsor.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

Our strategy was to address the key barrier to adoptions: the perception that shelter dogs are inferior to store bought animals. To do that, we showed how smart these dogs really are. We taught three SPCA dogs to do something a dog had never done before. Drive a car. The MINI Cooper. Over 8 weeks, we allowed people to learn about the training and interact with the dogs via Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. Then, the dogs drove live in front of the nation in the “Live Drive" event. This footage went viral along with the training.

Results

Driving dogs content has been viewed by hundreds of millions worldwide. In one week, the dogs got 12,000 Facebook fans, with engagement peaking at 245%. On Youtube alone, a single driving video was viewed over 9 million times in one week. Every major news network picked up the online content, delivering $15m+ in coverage. An Earned media ROI of 1:30,000. The response was incredible. Interest in adoptions increased 590%. All SPCA dogs were adopted. And increases in local adoption interest have been reported from as far away as the UK and the US – representing a truly global response.