In May 2013, the Urban Resource Institute announced the launch of URIPALS (Urban Resource Institute People and Animals Living Safely), the first domestic violence (DV) service provider in NYC to allow DV victims to live in shelter together with their pets. Purina’s marketing firm, Deep Focus, learned about the URIPALS program on Twitter and, seeking an opportunity to connect with their audience in an authentic way, identified URIPALS as an ideal partner.

Purina and URIPALS first partnered when Purina donated welcome kits containing food, toys, crates, accessories and cat care educational materials to shelter residents with cats.

In April of 2014, Purina and URI unveiled the Purina Play Haven and Dog Park at the URIPALS shelter – funded in part by Purina’s $15,000 donation. The park provides a much-needed secure area for dogs to play outside, creating an environment of healing for pets and their families.

The hope is that Purina and URIPALS partnership will propel the PALS program to serve as a model for domestic violence shelters across the country so families won’t have to choose between their pet’s safety and their own. This campaign was shared across Purina and URI’s social channels and garnered extensive media coverage - over 4 million impressions - on both the local and national level.

Purina has worked with URIPALS for over a year to raise awareness for the program. During Pet Safety Month and Domestic Violence Awareness Month, they aligned messaging to spark conversations around the PALS program via traditional and social media.

In October of 2014, Purina invited URI Senior Vice President Rita Garza to speak at the Purina #BetterWithPets Summit about the positive impact of pet-friendly DV shelters. Purina promoted the event through curated content on all its media channels. Due to the success of their partnership, awareness of DV and demand for pet-friendly shelters is at an all-time high. URI is seeking to expand PALS to all four of its NYC shelters.

Purina’s partnership with URIPALS helped drive publicity and visibility for the program since the partnership launched. Funding for the PALS program grew to $263,635 in calendar year 2014. There is no government funding available to support a pet co-sheltering program; so private funding is critical and necessary. Purina’s support of the program and brand strength helped lead to additional funding sources for the PALS program.

Digital video content was created to raise awareness for the partnership between URI and Purina. Videos received 9,686,109 total impressions and garnered overwhelmingly positive response from the both companies communities.

URI’s social following has quadrupled on both Facebook and Twitter since partnering with Purina.

The URIPALS Program has garnered media coverage in such outlets as the Wall Street Journal, New York Daily News, Huffington Post, The Associated Press, Mashable, the Daily Beast, Al Jazeera America, and more. Unique monthly viewers to all media outlets totaled 260,126,862.