Pedigree global platform ‘Feed the Good” was launched in Russia at the end of 2015. Aimed at elevating the brand beyond the product level it gave a much higher role to its social purpose “Feeding the good dogs bring to the world”. This was extremely relevant for Russia where consumers had only rational associations with the brand and didn’t interact with it emotionally. As “The pUp Syndrome” was one of the first activations introducing the platform we made a conscious choice to focus it on brand and social effect rather than on immediate commercial gains.

Our aim was to communicate the brand purpose to the mass audience and engage it in a meaningful social cause. We had to be very thorough with choosing the cause. To involve the whole society the cause should be based on a hot burning issue. To keep Pedigree linked to the cause, the issue should be resolved with the help of the dogs.

Our idea was based on the shocking statistics. In the whole Russia only 4 people with Down Syndrome were officially employed. Because of the lack of trust in their capabilities they are accepted neither by employers nor by common people as colleagues or service providers.

Here we saw an opportunity. Dogs have no prejudice against disabilities and accept people the way they are. Therefore working with the dogs people with Down Syndrome could prove their capabilities.

To prove that people with Down Syndrome are capable people we invited 5 teenagers with Down Syndrome to the dog training center “Hors”, where they learned dog care basics. But not only that. Caring for dogs they also learned to be more self-reliant and confident. Our experiment successfully proved: they are willing and able to work.

We shot a touching film “Sun for the Best Friend” about the participants and launched it on March 21 2016, The World Down Syndrome Day. The film was seeded in social networks, placed on the Pedigree YouTube channel and launched to the press and bloggers.

Besides the huge involvement of media (more than 1 000 000 USD PR value) and people (more than 7 000 000 views, one of the most viewed pieces of content on YouTube Russia in March 2016) the project brought other tangible results. Our partner in the project Downside Up Charity Fund opened a new work stream of professional orientation for people with Down Syndrome and has already implemented a few stages of the program: the organization of adaptational classes, professional practice and internship. 2 young people with Down Syndrome were invited to practice and internship at Voerman company.

Besides that our project brought the “capability” topic to the spotlight and it was further supported and broadened by experts, media and the whole society. Now we can see the shifts in attitude to people with Down Syndrome in Russia – they are treated not only as dependent and needing care, but also as capable, daring and ready to pursue their dreams in all spheres of life.