PEDIGREE® was looking for an online campaign that brought their new brand platform to life. So we created Duke’s Journey, a project that allowed dog lovers and owners to “See what good food can do” in real time.

To accomplish this, we teamed with the Animal Welfare League (AWL) in Chicago, Illinois, a shelter that fed all of their dogs PEDIGREE®. The shelter rescued an abandoned dog named Duke, and after three weeks of intensive care, we began photographing him daily over the course of six weeks. We then used this footage to build a time-lapse animation of Duke’s transformation that became the basis for a dynamic website experience and accompanying banner.

In the first week alone, the site received over 3 million social media impressions, but the best result of all is the one that matters most; our project helped Duke get adopted by a loving family.

The campaign kicked off on Friday, January 30th, with tweets from PEDIGREE® @GoDaddy to “help us help shelter dogs” by supporting the cause. The tweet was followed with ongoing real-time engagement on Facebook and Twitter to build momentum for the hashtag. In the hours before the Super Bowl on Sunday February 1st, PEDIGREE® aired an edited TV commercial during the Puppy Bowl which followed the story of Riley – a shelter dog nourished back to health with the help of PEDIGREE® food. The spot included an endframe with a CTA to tweet #TweetForBowls during the big game. The spot was also posted to Facebook and Twitter as real-time conversations continued throughout the weekend. With all the pieces in place and the plan executed accordingly, PEDIGREE® had the makings of a campaign that placed them in the thick of the real-time Super Bowl conversation, and put the brand in a positive light.

In the first week alone, “Duke’s Journey” received over 3 million social media impressions, 4,000 unique visitors and 20,000 video views, with an average site visit of almost five minutes. It was also chosen as an Editor’s Pick on Creativity Online. The reception was overwhelmingly positive, and it showed in retail too, as it encouraged consumers to purchase Pedigree at three times the normal rate. But the best result of all was the one that mattered most. The media attention was directly responsible for Duke being adopted into a loving home.