Media made people believe the unbelievable.

We did this this by staging one incredible, real life media event, hosted by the nation’s most credible influencer:

A world-first display of shelter dogs driving a MINI LIVE on New Zealand’s most popular current affairs TV show.

Media built anticipation for this event, let people engage in the outcome and made it famous.

- Anticipation: we teased the event using training footage and posed the question “can a dog drive a car?” through TV and PR.

- Engagement: after the tease, 800+ pieces of extra content were leveraged across Facebook, Twitter and Youtube to let people engage with the dogs, learn more and show their support.

- Famous: Paid TV, Radio, Press and Digital ads made the event “must see TV”. Post-event PR, paid content seeding and influencer outreach sent the story far and wide.

Our driving dogs were a global sensation, captivating hundreds of millions worldwide:

• $20m+ in PR across 70+ countries

• 100m+ reached through social media alone

Record NZ TV viewership of the live drive event (49% boost in viewers).

The event changed perceptions:

• People twice as likely to overcome their perception barrier once they’d seen the dogs driving

• 113% increase in number of people with a positive perception of shelter dog behaviour

Meaning NZ adoption interest increased 590%; every SCPA dog was adopted.

And increases in adoption interest reported across the world, including in the UK and US.