Animal shelters Save our Street Dogs have hundreds of homeless pets in their care. It is a tall order to spread the adoption message as they can only afford to rely on social media. Since many followers are already pet owners, it is simply preaching to the same helpless choir.

Home for Hope – a project that assimilates lifelike standees of actual homeless pets into IKEA’s home-like showroom designs. QR-coded collar tags on each dog provides the shopper with more information on each dog, the benefits and responsibilities that come with adopting a friend for life.

IKEA megastores attracts thousands of customers, primarily looking for items to furnish their homes. It is the opportune moment to encourage consideration of pet adoption. By assimilating the pet seamlessly into the home-like showroom sets, we were able to spread the cause to anyone with a home. Not just existing pet lovers.

Furniture stores like Ikea was the ideal setting for this idea, as its megastores attracts thousands of customers, primarily looking for items to furnish their homes. It is the opportune moment to encourage consideration of pet adoption. By assimilating the pet seamlessly into the home-like showroom sets, we were able to spread the cause to anyone with a home. Not just existing pet lovers.

The humble project drew worldwide attention. Earned media from Singapore and around the world helped to shine a spotlight on the cause. A project that begun in Singapore has led to animal advocates in USA, Brazil, Poland and others clamouring for IKEA in their respective countries to adopt the project. The animal shelter received enquiries from as far as Finland. Most importantly, beyond thousands of likes and encouraging comments, within a month of launch, eight dogs have found homes.