Schmackos is an Australian dog food brand famous for its ‘irresistible’ dog treats.

However, in 2012, public sentiment was turning against dog treats. Recent studies revealed that 45% of Australian dogs were over-weight, a statistic reinforced by the fact dogs were being treated more but exercised less. So Schmackos asked us to create a campaign that made Schmackos feel like part of the solution, not part of the problem. They also asked that the campaign have the same reach as their last TV campaign, but with just 12% of the budget.

We decided to reposition Schmackos as ‘rewards’ for exercise, not ‘treats’. The challenge was to do this in a way that was in-line with Schmackos’ brand heritage of silliness and fun. So we invented something ridiculous that we knew would result in lots and lots of extra dog play – ‘Trickopedia, the world’s only online encyclopaedia of stupid dog tricks’. We invited dog owners to train their dogs with Schmackos and then upload their stupid tricks. We created Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter communities so people could show off their tricks and in turn help us generate the required reach.

The target audience response was overwhelming. Reach and engagement were the client’s most important metrics, both targets were exceeded. Total impressions for the Trickopedia campaign were 102,613,302 (+10.7%), campaign reach was 14,594,580 (+32.7%), 274,155 people participated (+21.3%), unique website visits were 181.7% above target, and cost per participant was 17.24% below estimate. The Facebook page scored an 8.54% Daily Page Engagement Rate, putting it in the national top 10 for engagement. Trickopedia set new online reach and engagement benchmarks for MARS, which owns Schmackos. Trickopedia is now 3,872 pages long, resulting in over 150,000 extra minutes of dog-play.