Marketing with Meaning » Blog Archive » Pedigree Justly Awarded

This week Pedigree dog food and its agency, TBWA/Chiat/Day, won the grand prize in the 27th annual Kelly Awards, a show presented by the Magazine Publishers of America that honors creative excellence and effectiveness in magazine ads.

Pedigree won top honors with a marketing campaign that drew attention to the plight of dogs living in shelters, asking people to contribute time and money to dog shelters, and asking people to adopt pets of their own. Compelling print ads were accompanied by a website that provides information for prospective adopters.

The results show success on both Meaning and Marketing objectives. According to Ad Age, the campaign “raised $2.7 million for shelter dogs and contributed to double-digit sales growth for Pedigree.” What’s more, TBWA/Chiat/Day is contributing the entire $100,000 in prize money to the Pedigree Adoption Drive Foundation. That’s a big deal in the agency world of tight margins!

For years advertisers have used cute puppies in ads to sell products. Now they’re actually saving cute puppies through ads, and selling products. That’s a nice win-win.

about the author

My name is Bob Gilbreath and I'll be your guide on this trip into the new world of marketing. My fancy title at Bridge Worldwide is Chief Marketing Strategist. In this role I oversee about 50 people in our Account Service and Strategic Planning groups. My day job is to help run the company, assist my people, and help clients figure out how to make the shift to the new world of digital marketing. I have been in this position at Bridge Worldwide for about four years. Before this, I enjoyed about six years learning from some of the best marketers in the world as a Brand Manager at Procter & Gamble. You can check out more of my blah-blah on LinkedIn.

By nights and weekends I am a husband of 12 years, a father of two girls, a hopeful author of another book called The Challenge Dividend, and a Guitar Hero/Rock Band enthusiast.

about bridge worldwide

We are a collection of more than 200 people who are striving to grow, improve, and crack the code on the future of marketing—while working just as hard to make our office a great place to walk into every day. In the advertising agency marketplace, we fit into the niche of digital agencies. Advertising Age lists us as one of the 50-largest digital agencies in the United States. We've won tons of awards for our interactive work. We are part of WPP, one of the largest agency holding companies in the world. Our clients include Procter & Gamble, Abbott Nutrition, ConAgra Foods, and Kroger.

But we are more than these standard descriptions. We have a firm belief that the way to win is through using digital marketing to build customer relationships for our clients.

We also believe that the best way to run an agency is to make it a great place to work. We have created a culture that effects change. Our power comes from empowering every single employee to make smart decisions on their own and as a team. The result is people who do better work, recruit their friends, and stay with us and our clients at a time when the market is very competitive. And this isn't the usual BS: We've been named one of the Best Small Companies to Work for in America in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

Did I mention that we're always hiring?

Shaping Youth says...

Great to find out more about you personally, Bob, as well as this great campaign which caught my eye at Shaping Youth long ago and I’ve meant to blog in the context of kids’ education about same…They used cashier loopback videos of heartwarming dog stories for customers to view while waiting in checkout lines at Pet Club too, so pretty sharp/spot-on strategy as well (& of course, the calendar contest and dog heroes was a big hit too w/our team)

Meaningful marketing is a savvy marcom strategy but it’s also a win-win when it’s not just profiteering…esp. for the shelter beasties, if 2.7 mill helped the hounds and the agency was on board w/their donation to boot. (nice to see it wasn’t, um…’cause-washing’ or…er…’pet-washing.’

All of us here at Shaping Youth are huge animal fans, as we find it’s a universal ‘hook’ to embed positive content and compassion to kids in a number of arenas (like our ‘pause for a cause’ philanthropy and such, to get kids to think outside themselves…animals and eco are our two biggest ‘draws’)

Plus, this is personally near and dear to me, sent I’ve volunteered for 9 yrs. at the SPCA prior to my daughter’s birth, and ironically, just went back there last week to see about HER being a ‘docent teen’ (time flies) and there was the Pedigree campaign! So clearly, they did a great job w/outreach to end users as well; paying it forward to all.

Thanks for blogging this…uplifting and grand. –Amy

Posted: Sunday 06.08.08 @ 6:45 pm

Pedigree Justly Awarded

Selling product by saving puppies.

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