Pedigree
Project: Dogfishing
Helping shelter dogs find their perfect match
Many Dutch pick their dogs based on looks – prioritizing appearance over personality traits or lifestyle. While well-intentioned, this incompatibility contributes to more than 5,000 dogs ending up in animal shelters each year in The Netherlands.
01The challenge
Pedigree wanted to earn awareness for their mission of every dog finding a loving home, while educating people on the importance of adopting dogs based on compatibility rather than looks.
02The solution
We used AI to generate human alter-egos of shelter dogs, highlighting their personality traits in the pictures, and placed them on dating apps – motivating people to think differently about choosing a dog. We made them think they were choosing a partner. Some might call it catfishing… it’s dogfishing if you ask us.
An unexpected guerilla digital campaign
We used AI to transform four existing shelter dogs into their human alter ego. These human profiles highlighted the personality and characteristics of the dogs rather than only the visual appearance to give a better sense of lifestyle and personality fit with potential owners. We published these profiles on the most popular dating apps, guerilla style and sent a press release to inform the Dutch press that users could be dogfished. When users matched with the ‘human’ profiles, they were told they had been dogfished, with a message that this shelter dog is looking for a loving home.
03The impact
International recognition of the brand’s key purpose
With no paid budget, the campaign went from visibility of 0 to 10.5M – not bad for a country of 17.5M. Over 500 people matched by our AI profile in just a few hours. And there was +400% increase in reach for the shelter website and +75% of the dogs were adopted.
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