The Campaign

In Australia, there is an undeniable passion and obsession for pets. Outnumbering the human population, pets are more popular than people. They are worshipped and adored by their owners who are addicted to documenting their lives. Pictures and videos of pets run rampart in social feeds. Social listening identified ‘animals and pets’ as the third most talked about topic in Australia. Pets are more than just part of the family, they’re the centre and Aussies love to show them off. We pounced on this pride and emotion uncovering that unwavering ‘Pet Pride’ would be the core motivator for sharing and the perfect opportunity for marketing the film and most importantly, getting bums on seats.

Creative Execution

We called upon Australia to show us their ‘Pet Pride’ and celebrate the secret life of their pet through a competition sharing pictures and videos through the hashtag #SecretLifeOfMyPet. We embarked on a nationwide search to find Australia’s next Pet Superstar. True to pet owner’s natural sharing behaviour, social was at the heart with a responsive website that aggregated entries online and provided a destination for sharing Aussie ‘Pet Pride’. Hosted by legendry celebrity vets in partnership with Australia’s #1 TV breakfast show, over 5 weeks we urged Aussies to enter and were spurred on by a special cameo entry from social superstar Kevin Hart who starred in the film, and his loveable pooch Roxy. A Pet Moji allowed pet lovers to recreate what their pet would look like animated into the sequel. With a feed friendly format, Aussies turned their pets into movie stars!

We pounced on the pet pride that swept the nation with 31% of owners saying they entered because they love sharing photos and videos of their pets. 53% of people who saw the competition claimed it made them more interested in seeing the film in cinemas. The competition received 10,532 entries across Twitter, Instagram and the website – the highest number of entries for a UGC competition the film studio has ever received in Australia. We saw 6x the volume of social conversation for Pets vs our competitors over the campaign period, reaching more than 5.5 million Australians. The film opened number 1 at the Australian box office and is the biggest original animated film opening for 2016 in Australia. Most importantly, The Secret Life of Pets was the largest grossing release for the studio in 2016, making $29.5 million, smashing our record target of $25m by a phenomenal 18%.

With more pets popping up on Aussie newsfeeds than babies we needed to hone this over sharing, home snapping obsession. Although they’d never admit it, hidden in the minds of every pet owner is a secret dream that maybe, just maybe, their pet could become a famous hit online. We set out to make this dream a reality with a once in a lifetime opportunity for one lucky pet to be immortalised and animated into the sequel, The Secret Life of Pets 2. The strategy; fuel Australians fervour towards their pets and showcase and celebrate the secret life of Aussie pets. The plan was simple, if we gave Aussies a platform to make their pet a movie star they’d help us make and our film famous.