• by Tanya Gazdik , October 1, 2012

Pedigree has launched a national marketing campaign including an initiative to feed more than 4 million shelter dogs.

The campaign includes TV and online advertising, digital activations, retail and public relations support. 

It is aimed at raising awareness to dog lovers and dog owners, said Melissa Martellotti, senior brand communications manager, Mars Petcare U.S.

“The program strives to raise awareness about the plight of homeless dogs and inspire consumers to visit a local shelter and adopt a new pet,” Martellotti tells Marketing Daily. “The marketing campaign also aims to involve retail partners and encourage current dog owners to help through the new ‘Buy One, Feed Two’ program.

The company will make its largest food donation ever -- up to 10 million bowls through the buy one, feed two program. When consumers buy Pedigree at any national retailer, the company will donate twice that amount of food to a shelter dog.

The TV spot, “Going home,” shows how Pedigree is helping shelter dogs get adopted, and how consumers can help. The video captures dogs in the moment they realize they're moving from a shelter into a new home. All the featured dogs have real-life adoption stories.

The media buy includes prime, daytime, Hispanic prime and cable, and focus on women’s, home and entertaining and animal programming. The TV ads are also available on Facebook and YouTube.

The campaign includes a supporting video that provides a recap of the initial months of The Pedigree Feeding Project, including before and after interviews with shelter workers. This video is a key tool to showcase how the addition of Pedigree Food for Dogs is already helping shelters focus on other tactics that can help more dogs to get adopted. Similar to the dogs featured in the “Going Home” commercial, the dogs in these online videos have real-life adoption stories.

Airing online only, this is promoted via three video distribution partners, Sharethrough, Visible Measures and Outbrain which allow the brand to organically seed videos into articles and relevant content across the web, seed with influencers for inclusion in blog coverage, and incorporates into social gaming sites, allowing gamers to interact with the brand and gain social currency for watching the video.

The effort also includes a digital application called Woofer which is designed to help more shelter dogs find loving homes. Found on the Pedigree Facebook page, participating shelters can use Instagram to take pictures of their available dogs, and then those pictures are automatically uploaded onto the Woofer tab.

Local shelter events are planned in Chicago and Nashville. These cities were chosen as “test” markets given the abundance of homeless pets. Through the Pedigree Feeding Project, participating shelters in each market will be supplied with their dogs’ food needs, at absolutely no cost, helping save anywhere from $40,000 to $100,000 a year.

“In addition to providing the food, Pedigree is also localizing the effort and providing Nashville and Chicago with marketing support to help drive adoptions,” Martellotti  said. “Local support includes advertising, public relations, and long-term marketing toolkits to help them continue to help get dogs adopted and fund local adoption events.”