Entry

Virtual Fetch Challenge

Submitter:

Company:

Concept/Purpose of the Work:
Petmate wanted to celebrate the relationship between dogs and their humans by making the Chuckit! brand top of mind for dog owners on National Fetch Day. The work had 2 primary objectives: 1. Increase Brand Awareness Amplify conversation around the Chuckit! brand leading up to and through National Fetch Day 2. Deepen Brand Engagement Drive buzz and affinity through relevant interactions and content that amplifies the Chuckit! brand But playing fetch through live product experiences was impossible in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. We needed to find a way to engage consumers with the brand and get people talking about Chuckit! from their own homes. So we created the Virtual Fetch Challenge, a first-of-its-kind ""throw one, give one"" interactive experience that engaged consumers in a live, virtual game of fetch with rescue dogs at North Shore Animal League America in New York, all for a good cause. For every virtual ball thrown, Petmate would donate a Chuckit! ball up to 5,000 balls total. In addition, we provided pet adoption started kits for 3 Chuckit! champions on National Fetch Day to increase their odds of finding a loving home.

Results of the Work:

The Virtual Fetch Challenge exceed expectations. All 5,000 Chuckit! balls were donated to the North Shore Animal League of America and most heart-warming of all, 3 rescue dogs were adopted.

The Virtual Fetch Challenge boosted our campaign featuring social influencers, national sweepstakes party kits and local business partnerships.

We drove significant brand awareness and owned the conversation on National Fetch Day, with total campaign impressions topping 1.6 billion! Over 6,000 pieces of organic consumer generated content was posted, including from the dog whisperer himself, Cesar Millan, and the Smithsonian Institute.

Additionally, we helped dog lovers directly participate in National Fetch Day by getting product in hand and driving trial. We generated an additional 4.6M impressions from 22,000 brand premiums distributed through our Backyard Party Packs across 41 states and 2 countries, and our take-home Doggie Bags distributed through local business partnerships in 22 markets around the country.

Our Sweepstakes campaign totaled 5,874 entries in a matter of weeks — 196% to goal for the campaign. Each entry had to upload a favorite dog photo and tag two friends using #NationalFetchDay, helping drive social content.

The Petmate sales team attributed 60% of Chuckit! growth in 2020 to our campaign around National Fetch Day.

How the Work Was Delivered to the Masses:
For dog lovers everywhere, we created a ""Throw-One, Give-One"" Virtual Fetch Challenge where throwing a virtual ball online launched a real Chuckit! ball at the North Shore Animal League of America rescue shelter in New York. This first-of-its-kind event included a charitable effort donating up to 5,000 Chuckit! balls and adoption starter kits for any Chuckit! Champion pups adopted on National Fetch Day. Online participants were presented two live-feed camera views upon visiting the microsite. Participants filled in their name and favorite dog breed to personalize the experience as they were put into a queue before their ball launched. After pressing a button, the camera behind their launcher went live showing a direct point of view feed of their ball being thrown. A second wide-shot showed the landing area where participants could watch the dogs fetch their ball. Then, they were presented a personalized thank you message and an auto-post to Facebook link to share the excitement on social. Tapping into the popularity of dog photos in social media and providing a unique, first-of-its-kind experience to play fetch with rescue dogs launched our campaign through the woof (sorry!) and had our client's tails wagging.


Credits:
Agency: X-FCTR
Client: Petmate

Executive Creative Director: Matt Miller
Executive Producer: Rich Penner
Account Director: Keri Saline
Project Management: Vanessa Sinatora

Tags:
, ,

Category:

All Entries