The subject was deadly serious, but the new strategy required humor, virality and inclusivity to break into the world of shareable content. truth’s new video asked its audience to consider the unthinkable: a world without cats and thus an Internet without cat videos. Consequences that would impact their lives now, rather than 30 years in the future. The message – while humorous – was a serious one: smoking equals no cats; no cats equals no cat videos. Welcome to #CATmageddon.

We would warn of #CATmageddon by enlisting the same means and motives that made cat videos popular in the first place, creating highly shareable new truth content, targeting teens by recruiting some of the most popular pet influencers and engaging them in helping end tobacco use for good.

PR drove millions of eyes and conversations before, during and after #CATmageddon’s debut.

We released video content and provocative infographics to targeted outlets, creating a groundswell of attention pre-Grammys.

On show day, we tapped viral pet influencers to black out their profiles illustrating #CATmageddon, which drove an outpouring of tweets. Mashable covered us mid-Grammy’s, sharing fans’ tweets like, “#Catmageddon won the Grammy’s!” Hundreds of other stories followed.

Post-Grammy’s we motivated consumers to retweet with an “unlock” mechanism set to release “the most epic cat video ever,” created by influential YouTube channel ‘Aaron’s Animals.’

Another video followed, titled #FinishIT, expanding second-hand smoking dangers to dogs. We paired the release with findings from our survey.

A partnership with Petco was another education outlet with a national footprint including 1,430 locations and robust social channels. Petco distributed free pet tags in-store, displayed signage, and shared tips to prevent second-hand smoke’s impact on pets.

#CATmageddon became the most watched video in the history of the truth campaign, and provided a new message which engaged our teen audience to end tobacco use:

•16 million views in first 24 hours of video launch; 113.9 million+ video views to date

•600+ total earned media placements; more than 30 placements in youth-focused outlets; equating to more than $15 million in value

•Nearly 900 million impressions overall to date including stories in People magazine, UPROXX, PopSugar, Mashable, Upworthy and more

•35 million+ social media impressions from earned media outlets posting to their channels

•More than 1 million visits to thetruth.com and more than 1 million social engagements in response

•Petco partnership allowed for social, digital and in-store promotion of truth messages at 1,430 retail locations.

o 110,000 pet tags have been distributed to pet owners

o Value from Petco partnership for truth: approximately half a million dollars