Great news. Pedigree is a brand that exists to make the world a better place for dogs. So it makes a lot of sense that they’re on a mission to end global dog homelessness by 2030. It’s also what enables the brand to show up in interesting ways, making dogs relevant to different stages of life, and appealing to the mindsets associated with each one.

This brief was the next step on their mission. With over 200 million stray dogs in the world today, we knew we needed an idea that could weave itself into the fabric of society, and leave a dog-shaped mark on an entire generation.

So our job was simple; find a new opportunity to match homes without dogs, to dogs without homes – and leverage it with an insightful, relevant, and meaningful program of work.

Pedigree targeted couples who weren’t quite ready for parenthood, and helped them start a family. With a dog. Be it pressure from the in-laws, a love of freedom, or simply not being ready, we turned their parenting hesitancy into the perfect excuse to adopt a dog.

We didn’t blame the couples for putting off their parenting plans. Instead, we helped them, by revealing, announcing and celebrating a new life-stage between adulthood and parenthood. One that let us directly target couples who weren’t quite ready for children, and leverage their parenting hesitancy into a meaningful excuse to fetch themselves a few more years. We gave them a baby step into parenting.

Over 83% of millennials polled in the US last year said that pet ownership should come before children, with over 40% actively delaying parenthood in favour of life with a pet. We saw this trend for what it was; terrible news for babies. But a great opportunity for shelter dogs.

We promoted our new life stage by launching a program of work directly targeting pre-parents suffering under pressure to start a family, and proposing a dog-shaped alternative. Our plan was simple; leverage their procreation-pressure into the perfect excuse to adopt a dog.

The strategy rolled-out in 4 stages:

1. We compared the possibilities of parenting a baby vs. parenting a dog.

2. We celebrated those who made the ‘right’ choice.

3. We convinced reluctant stakeholders.

4. We connected our audience with their perfect dog, and enabled them to adopt it.

Each element of the campaign worked in unison to directly target our audience, leveraging procreation pressure into permission to fetch a few more years.

We launched with three films that compared the possibilities of raising a baby, against that of a dog – celebrating a new cultural bridge between adulthood and parenthood.

We praised those who made the ‘right’ choice, by reinventing the world of newborn portraiture with a doggy-twist, in print and short-form digital and social.

We targeted those with reluctant partners on social media, with a PowerPoint presentation that analysed the pros and cons of babies vs. dogs. And for those who still weren't convinced, we made radio lullabies, featuring an ear-splitting children’s choir.

At every stage, a microsite enabled our audience to connect with, apply and adopt their perfect shelter dog, combining their characteristics with an algorithm that matched their lifestyle data to their perfect dog.

Results:

– Searches for Pedigree rose by 1,141%.

– 20x humans were matched to every adoptable dog.

– 96% of matches went on to inquire about taking that dog home.

– Sales grew by 5%.

Timings:

The Pedigree ‘Take a baby step into parenting’ campaign ran in New Zealand from November 2020, to February 2021, and is due to be rolled out to global markets including the United States, and Australia in 2021.

Summary:

Couples became families, houses became homes, shelter dogs became family dogs, and babies waited their turn. Parenthood, schmarenthood.