First, we created a fake dog breeder’s website. Then put ads listing puppies for sale online and throughout the city. When interested buyers visited the site, a video of the supposed puppy for sale played. Shortly in, the breeder façade dropped away, revealing a larger reality — the dog is actually in a puppy mill. Viewers were prompted to share the site on Facebook and Twitter to help keep the ruse going and educate more people.

By talking to our target while they were in the process of looking for puppies to purchase, we were able to encourage many people to adopt rather than buy a dog. The site sparked an important conversation about the benefits of adopting dogs locally.

The stats:• 77,000 visitors to the site the first two weeks it was live. • 84 million impressions