The Campaign

The idea was to create a campaign through innovative product design that could: a) raise awareness of animal homelessness among existing Molly’s Pet Shop customers and the general public so that more people would get involved in helping out in their own communities, and b) create practically designed, functional winter shelters that could survive through harsh weather for over 2,000 individual stray cats in South Korea. The product design idea came from the hooded shape of igloos and the insulation they create. We decided on upcycling hoods from donated down jackets as this would be a more sensible, creative, and cost effective use of materials. Designed with input from focus groups, surveys, and other considerations, Hood Houses are easy to transport and install, and the base structure also includes insulated bowls for food and water so that the food/water doesn’t freeze in extreme weather.

Creative Execution

The campaign was executed through a collaboration with Molly’s Pet Shop, an E-mart retail pet store brand in South Korea. Posters for the campaign were placed inside all Molly’s Pet Shop retail locations, and then clothing donations were collected from the public and local Goodwill stores over a 4 week period from October to November, 2017, which were then upcycled into portable cat shelters for stray cats called Hood Houses. More than 2,000 Hood House units were manufactured and given away for free to volunteers who purchased a specific brand of cat food, Love Together, the proceeds of which go directly towards helping stray cats, during a two-week period through December 18-31, 2017. All 33 Molly’s Pet Shop retail locations participated in the campaign, with each location limited to 50-100 units.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

The successful distribution of Hood House shelters during the two week period contributed towards the slowdown of biodiversity loss, and received large amounts of positive feedback, as well as getting attention across multiple social media platforms, news outlets, magazines, TV programs, and even among celebrities. The campaign was able to give over 2,000 stray cats safe and warm shelter for the winter, the sales of the cat food brand that was used in the campaign, Love Together, increased by more than 1,250% compared to a year earlier, and Molly’s Pet Shop overall sales and visitors increased by nearly 10%. Additionally, thousands of comments referencing the necessity of better human-animal coexistence appeared across various social media platforms as a direct result of the campaign, and due to the campaign’s popularity and continuous purchase requests, Molly’s is currently planning a second campaign for the winter season of 2018.