There are thousands of animal shelters in Brazil. And most of them are overcrowded. Yet, people keep spending a lot of money to buy a pet rather than adopting one. We believe there's no difference between purebred animals and shelter animals. To show this, we invited one pet shop to lend its displays for one day. We replaced the animals for sale with pets for adoption. Without telling people.

People often got emotional on the spot and the adoptions were almost sure.

The video from the experience became viral and people were also heavily impacted online. Hundreds of adoption requests were received through the campaign website and the message was wide spread: better than buying a life is saving one.

We had to show people there's no real difference between shelter animals and pet shop animals. In the end they're all animals capable of affection and as lovely as any other regular pet. It's just a mindset that had to be confronted in the right spot with the right message. Shelters can be depressing places to visit, and stereotypes about the animals form there can play a role in people deciding not to risk taking one of these animals home. Pet shops have a more positive perception. By altering the environment and not warning people those were actually shelter animals, we extinguish the preconceptions involved.

Hundreds of pet shops across the country have joined the project. All of them will lend its displays for a day. 41 dates have been scheduled so far. Priceless Pets has been highlighted in national and international media as content, not paid media. We got 30 minutes of live airplay in one of the most important TV shows in Brazil. The plot: "would you adopt an abandoned animal?". Celebrities and common people with real life changing adoptions were live, discussing the subject. Their pets were also brought to stage and charmed the audience. Our video was the 2nd most visited link on BuzzFeed with almost 400k organic non-paid views in one day. Over 20 national celebrities supported the idea through their social media channels. And what really matters: we got an impressive increase of over 1000% in adoptions. Minds were changed, hearts were touched.

To show people there's no real difference between shelter animals and pet shop animals we got to act in the exact moment they're up to buy a new pet. By exchanging the regular animals for shelter animals without warning customers, we were able to surprise them in a very impactful way.

However, the message needed to be carried on. So, the filmed experience was then distributed online. We did a massive PR effort to insert the video as content, not as paid media. As this is a pro bono cause, we got loads of non-paid media. We also distributed it through Instagram, Whatsapp and 1 min versions were aired in cinemas and indoor digital adverts like bus TVs and elevators (for free). We managed to get more than 20 national celebrities to support the campaign and 30 minutes of live airplay in one of the most important TV shows in Brazil.

The World Health Organisation estimates that there are 30 million abandoned cats and dogs in Brazil, meaning that shelters have become overcrowded and dirty. But despite this, many people still opt to buy a new pet instead of adopting one. We needed to change the perception that an expensive petshop purebred animal is better than a shelter animal. We needed to make way for these pets that are actually as lovely as any other purebred animal.

This idea helps to increase numbers of adopted dogs by re-anchoring the perceptions of each animal. Shelters can be sad, sometimes depressing places to visit, and stereotypes about animals being aggressive or overly shy sometimes play a role in people deciding not to risk taking one of these animals home. Pet stores, however, have a more positive perception of fun – people may go there to find their dream dog staring at them in the window.

By altering the environment in which people meet their new pets-to-be, we are helping to extinguish the preconceptions of these animals being less ‘ownable’ than non-rescue hounds.

The campaign is a great deal for Purina and Quatro Patinhas NGO. Purina hasn't a legacy on adoption programs like Pedigree and they needed to make a point on this issue.

Quatro Patinhas has 350 animals at their shelter. They have high costs to keep the animals healthy for adoption.