This Cesar activation was designed to promote the launch of their new Home Delights product, both in the real world and online.

It started with the installation of a one-of-a-kind vending machine designed just for dogs. The vending machine released the smell of four distinct Cesar flavors, like Meat Lasagna and Turkey with vegetables. Then the machine’s sensors detected which flavor the dog wanted.

The dog vending machine was strategically positioned next to a full sized-vending machine targeting their owners. Giving both parties a ‘surprise and delight’ experience and a shared moment of joy.

The vending machines were set up in San Francisco to drive trial in a breakthrough way. We also captured content of dogs and their owners interacting and being entertained by the machine. This content was distributed on Facebook, along and with our influencer network to spread the joy of Cesar to dog lovers everywhere.

Cesar Home Delights is an innovation for the dog food category. Dogs have always wanted what their owners are eating, and now for the first time, they can have what their owners eat.

Our challenge was to get dog owners to think differently about dog food by highlighting how Cesar Home Delights looks, smells and tastes just like human food.

So, we set out to help launch this breakthrough product in a breakthrough way. Thus we created a vending machine, which is normally just for human food, but ours was built just for dogs and dog food.

By all accounts, the promotion was a success and it was a great example of how a small financial investment can have a big impact.

The project was funded with only $60,000 USD. That included the fabrication of a one-of-a-kind vending machine for dogs, day-of planning and permits for multiple locations, and social media promotion.

Our first measure of success was a very active event. We were the talk of the dog park and through word of mouth and our social awareness campaign, we had every breed of dog imaginable and gave away more than 350 free samples.

But our reach went far beyond the event. Through social content, we were able to fuel online conversations and effectively reach over 400,000 impressions and most importantly, our content had an unprecedented engagement rate of 39%, which was 387% above the CPG standard engagement rate of 8%.

The activation kicked-off in San Francisco’s Duboce Dog Park by installing the Cesar Home Delights dog vending machine alongside a typical human vending machine. The unexpected location provided the perfect context to surprise and delight people while demonstrating the joy Cesar Home Delights brings to both dogs and their owners.

The activation continued as the vending machine was relocated to another location at a popular local café. The café helped us emphasize that Cesar Home Delights looks, smells and tastes as good as their human food equivalent.

Throughout the daylong event, content was captured to extend the reach of the activation online, helping us spread the joy to hundreds of thousands of dog owners.

Also, the machine’s construction was built specifically with dogs in mind. It used the appetizing scent of each flavor to attract dogs and once drawn close enough, the sensors would distribute the flavor the dog wanted.