The Be Aware of the Dogs campaign not only used outdoor media to get its message across, but turned digital outdoor media into an active participant in the New Year’s Eve celebrations. The outdoor advertising was equipped with reactive sound technology, which made the dog in the advertising hear and react to the sounds of fireworks in real time.

The digital outdoor media prompted people to move away from the residential buildings when shooting off their fireworks, and also showed what happens, if they don’t. This media idea and execution succeeded in making an on-the-spot impact on the target audience.

New Year’s Eve is a nightmare for dogs, especially in urban areas. Fireworks can cause them tremors, panic attacks and even lifelong trauma. However, on the streets where people celebrate with fireworks, the dogs’ terror goes unnoticed. Most animals spend the night hiding in their homes with their owners.

Musti Group is the Nordics’ largest pet retailer. With their New Year’s campaign, they wanted to help Finnish dogs and dog owners during the scariest hours of the year. This required a creative idea that would get people in urban areas to move further away from residential buildings when shooting off their fireworks. Additionally, the brand wanted to solidify their position as the advocate of pets and pet owners, increasing their brand preference and recommendation.

It was quickly realised that the only media which could effectively reach the celebrating people in the heat of the moment was outdoor advertising.

To make an impact on the people celebrating New Year’s Eve, they had to be made aware of the negative effects that fireworks have on dogs.

The solution was to create a virtual dog, which could represent the 700 000 real Finnish dogs on the streets among the celebrating people. The dog, Musti, took over the digital outdoor media in Finnish cities, where fireworks cause the most harm to pets.

Musti was equipped with reactive sound technology, which made it hear and react to the sounds of fireworks in real time. The reactions of Musti showed the terror that fireworks cause to real animals living nearby. The call-to-action prompted people to move further away from the residential buildings when shooting off fireworks.

The idea of using reactive outdoor advertising made the strategic part of the campaign straightforward. Outdoor media placement correlates with the amount of population, both human and animal, and the amount of problems caused by fireworks. So by default, the outdoor advertising was where it needed to be – in the densely populated urban areas.

The outdoor advertising prompted people to move further away from residential buildings when shooting off their fireworks. The outdoor campaign was supported by a social media campaign, which was targeted towards people living in the biggest cities of Finland and most likely to cause problems with their fireworks.

In Finland, the selling of fireworks is limited to a short time period right before New Year’s Eve. Therefore, the outdoor campaign ran only for 48 hours, on the 30th and 31st of December, covering the time period when fireworks are available and causing harm to pets.

The campaign dominated the outdoor advertising space of all major cities of Finland, including the capital Helsinki, where the virtual dog Musti was also placed on a 13 x 13 meter screen right in the middle of the city’s official New Year’s party.

The reactivity of the outdoor advertising was created with a combination of audio sensors and animation loops. Whenever the sensors caught a sudden spike in the audio signal, one of many animation loops would be triggered, causing Musti to react to the firework with no more than a one and a half second delay.

The campaign was a massive success for both the Musti Group brand and for the dogs living around Finland.

The post-campaign study showed that a whopping 35.9% of Finnish dog owners reported that the campaign made the night easier for their pet. That means that over 250 000 dogs around Finland had a less scary New Year’s Eve. Needless to say, the campaign will be repeated in the years to come.

Another reason for repeating the campaign is the reaction of Finnish pet owners. The brand perception of Musti Group skyrocketed compared to the same time last year.

Top of mind +31%

Consideration +41%

Preference +23%

Recommendation +140%

Ad recall +73%

Musti Group is the Nordics’ largest pet retailer, and an advocate for pets and pet owners. The brand’s core purpose is to improve the everyday lives of animals and make the human-oriented society a more pet-friendly place.

In Finland, consumers prefer buying and shooting off their own fireworks over the fireworks shows organised by cities or other official instances.

This causes a lot of problems especially in the urban areas, where people shoot off their fireworks too close to residential buildings. Each year, fireworks cause a significant amount of stress and even lifelong trauma to pets.