Everything PEDIGREE® do is aimed at making the world a better place for dogs and dog owners. The fear of losing your dog is one of those universal feelings that every dog owner can relate to. Despite this, very little has been done to help dog owners in their time of need with people often still turning to the old school option of sticking ‘Lost Dog’ posters to lampposts!

We wanted to create something of genuine utility for consumers, something that would show that PEDIGREE live up to their mantra of making the world a better place for dogs and dog owners.

We felt that the answer to this problem could lie in the technology that sits in the pocket of most of us these days, the smartphone. Partnering with Google, we created the PEDIGREE Found, an app that leverages a world first use of the Google Display Network to help reunite dogs and dog owners.

Still in its infancy, 10% of dog owners in NZ’s largest city, Auckland, where the scheme is running have downloaded the app. What’s more, 91% of those have gone on to to register their dogs. The power of PEDIGREE Found has also been recognised by Auckland council – all Animal Management employees will use the app to help reunite lost dogs they find with the owners and the council will be encouraging all dog owners to get the app when the 2015 dog registration starts (in NZ, every dog requires a license.)

When you lose your dog every second counts. What if there was a way to activate an army of scouts in the exact area your dog was last seen?

That’s PEDIGREE Found. Download the app, register your dog. If they go missing just press the LOST button, instantly creates lost dog alert mobile ads where your dog was last seen, geo-targeted to a pinpoint radius of 2.5 kilometers & personalized with your dogs information.

This, along with push notifications to other Found users, gives our network of eyes the details they need to bring your dog home safely, and quickly.

Launching in April, so far the app has topped the trending topics of the NZ app store (it is currently a NZ only project) and has already been downloaded by 10% of all Auckland dog owners, with twice as many more people visiting the mobile web site to check for lost dogs in their area.

Those who download truly use it – an amazing 91% of people who downloaded went on to register their dogs details.

At at time when Pedigree were launching a new brand positioning globally, the earned media value that this campaign has generated is already over double the total campaign cost (development + paid media), helping drive fame for the brand and the new ‘Feed The Good’ positioning.