Most brands and categories in the United States have jumped into branded entertainment head first. But not so in the rodenticide arena. Here marketing dollars are still spent primarily in traditional channels—with an emphasis on :30 television commercials. TomCat’s major competitor, D-CON, spent heavily in TV. So to counter that, we wanted to develop content that allowed TomCat to transcend it, and move beyond traditional broadcast into the digital channels where more and more people are engaged.

This long form video content spoof on Broadway’s ‘Cats’ was replete with an original score we wrote, sung by some of the rattiest actors we could find—all allowing the audience to become aware of Tomcat’s proposition and personality. We cloaked TomCat, the rodent killer, with a wink and a smile.

We killed the results!

Awareness increased dramatically (+37%: pre vs. post).

Share of market increased +4 points due to an increase of Tomcat sales +22% YOY (at the expense of d-CON which declined 2 points).

Signs that the context play strategy worked, were witnessed by purchase and usage intent lifts of 5 and 8 points, respectively.

Further evidence that this was a remarkable campaign:

DJ Deadmau5 tweet to his 3M+ followers: “One of the best things I've seen all year”.

Engagement on Tumblr social forum spiked at 20% .