Execution

In New Zealand, the number of shelter dogs far outweighs interest in their adoption. As a long standing, but little known, supporter of NZ animal adoption charity SPCA, MINI wanted to change this. The biggest barrier to dog adoption is the perception that shelter dogs are inferior to store bought animals. Most adoption advertising reinforces this by painting the dogs as victims, alluding to a troubled past. Strategy: prove people wrong by showing how smart these dogs really are. Idea: teach 3 shelter dogs to drive a MINI. Yes, actually drive a real MINI. Sound unbelievable? We thought that’s what people would say. Dogs appear to drive in ads and movies all the time. But to change perceptions we’d need people to believe what they were seeing. This meant how media delivered the idea was as critical as the idea itself.