Stray is the most popular video game of 2022. It stars a stray cat living an extraordinary adventure. While in the real world, stray cats struggle to survive before eventually ending up in shelters.

La SPA had the idea of hijacking the game to expose the real life of these animals. Actual SOS cats from their shelters were modelized in the game. They were sick, weak and afraid of humans. The whole gameplay was different from the original game. Gamers could download these felines to experience and learn about what stray cats truly endure.

Most of young people are true animal lovers, however, many of them are unaware of the fact that they can adopt a pet through La SPA. We also know that young people love gaming and consume it collectively, particularly via a social media such as Twitch, so we considered it as a medium that would enable it to address this new target group.

Finally, we know that they appreciate when brands act bold. So, we chose to hijack the Stray game.

The official launch of Stray, on 19 July, marked the starting point of our #AdoptAMod campaign. First of all, it was necessary to find a solution to integrate the game, and especially a person able to model the cats in a realistic way. A search led to Chris, a modeler living in Indonesia.

Then La SPA started to make the five mods available on its website, from 23 August. It was necessary to stick to the official release date of the game to capitalize on the natural enthusiasm of fans for this event.

Finally, the association worked to publicize its operation by contacting well-known streamers who had already broadcast their gaming experience on Twitch. But also, to the media and influencers, by sending to each of them a cover of the game including one of the five cats of La SPA, as if it was an official cover.

Steamers played our version of the game and made their community aware of these cat’s conditions. The SOS cats we modelized got adopted in 24 hours and became ambassadors for all the other cats waiting for adoption.

Moreover, the developers of Stray noticed the campaign and we are now discussing to add more real stray cats in the original game.