When we talk about abandonment, we often imagine a dog left alone in the woods. The reality is quite different: most of them are cats.

As summer approaches, the number of cat abandonments explodes and La SPA, the main French animal protection NGO, takes in thousands of cats in its 63 shelters. By integrating the cats from its shelters into Stray, a very popular video game featuring stray cats, La SPA naturally seized this opportunity to alert the younger generation to the problem of abandonment, first by addressing the streamer community, which is very sensitive to the animal cause.

Every year in France, 15.000 cats are abandoned and struggle to survive. Summer is for them the worst period, since it corresponds to the beginning of the holidays and a peak in abandonment.

La SPA wanted to address a new first the younger generations about this massive problem, but in another way than through its traditional TV and social media campaigns that usually don’t reach them.

The NGO wanted also to remain faithful to its editorial line initiated in 2020, i.e., not to show violent or shocking images, contrary to other animal protection associations from which La SPA wants to distance itself.

Stray is the most popular video game of 2022. It stars a stray cat living an extraordinary adventure. While in the real world, stray cats struggle to survive before eventually ending up in shelters.

La SPA had the idea of hijacking the game to expose the real life of these animals. Actual abandoned cats from their shelters were modelized in the game. They were sick, weak and afraid of humans. The whole gameplay was different from the original game. Gamers could download these felines to experience and learn about what stray cats truly endure.

Most of young people are true animal lovers, however, many of them are unaware of the fact that they can adopt a pet through La SPA; Moreover, some of them buy their animal on internet without being prepared to rise one, and this can lead to an abandonment.

We also know that young people love gaming and consume it collectively, particularly via a social media such as Twitch, so we considered it as a medium that would enable it to address this new target group.

Finally, we know that they appreciate when brands act bold. So we chose to hijack the Stray game.

To get the word out, we briefed the biggest streamers who were playing Stray online and sharing their experience on Twitch. By playing with these cats, they were able to raise awareness in their communities, about abandonment and adoption.

The official launch of Stray, on 19 July, marked the starting point of our #AdoptAMod campaign. First of all, it was necessary to find a solution to integrate the game, and especially a person able to model the cats in a realistic way. A search led to Chris, a modeler living in Indonesia.

Then La SPA started to make the five mods available on its website, from 23 August. It was necessary to stick to the official release date of the game to capitalize on the natural enthusiasm of fans for this event.

Finally, the association worked to publicize its operation by contacting well-known streamers who had already broadcast their gaming experience on Twitch. But also, to the media and influencers, by sending to each of them a cover of the game including one of the five cats of La SPA, as if it was an official cover.

Steamers played our version of the game and made their community aware of these cat’s conditions. The cats we modelized got adopted in 24 hours and became ambassadors for all the other cats waiting for adoption.

Moreover, the developers of Stray noticed the campaign and we are now discussing to add more real stray cats in the original game.

Thanks to the #AdoptAMod campaign, La SPA benefited from an increase of 2000% in the number of visitors in its shelters and 900 new cats’ adoptions.

The media coverage has also been great: more than 250 spin-offs, including 34 in print and 12 on television. For a PR reach of 400 million in a dozen countries including the United States, the Philippines, Spain and Belgium.

And at the end of 2022, La SPA was elected second favorite association of the French (among 40), whereas it was ranked fourteenth in 2018.

France is one of the countries with the highest pet abandonment rate in the world. La SPA is an emblematic French association recognized as being of public utility, in particular for fighting abandonment and promoting the adoption in its 63 shelters across France.

Every year the NGO produces and promotes one TV add only, always about the topic of abandonment, and it targets all French people. In 2022 La SPA did it again, but for the first time in its history it also launched an activation to target a new audience, and it came as a surprise both for people and the media: despite its 175 years and its very institutional posture, La SPA showcased it was capable of launching a gaming activation through a video game even before it becomes a hit.