In the U.S., Branded Entertainment is pervasive. And while brands are intimately involved in our everyday lives and culture, the brand affiliations that really stand out -- and resonate with consumers -- are the ones that are founded upon a shared purpose, and elicit an emotional response.

These are the stories that consumers remember, and ones they talk about and share with others. With this in mind, PEDIGREE® created one such story.

No one has supported pet adoption longer than PEDIGREE®. Although this commitment has created a special place for PEDIGREE® in the hearts of dog lovers, we needed to highlight how PEDIGREE® food makes a difference in the lives of shelter dogs. Donations through the PEDIGREE® Feeding Project are helping shelters put their dogs on a diet of PEDIGREE®—and research has shown that the consistent, healthy diet helps dogs get in shape to be adopted. We identified the 2012 Broadway revival of Annie the Musical as the perfect partner to demonstrate PEDIGREE®’s nutritional benefits in the context of a familiar and beloved adoption story.

We documented Annie’s Search for Sandy through a television special in which PEDIGREE® and animal trainer Bill Berloni conducted a nationwide search for a real-life shelter dog to play the role of Sandy, the other orphan in the beloved musical Annie. Bill, who discovered and trained the original Sandy 35 years ago, chose a dog who’d only known the hard-knock life. Abandoned, dragged by a car, and moments from euthanasia, Sunny was plucked from a Houston shelter to train for the big role.

We aired the video special on NBC TV two weeks before Annie’s Nov. 9 Broadway premiere with encore airings online and on U.S. cable networks Reelz, HMC and CMT.Through social media, Sunny’s journey from shelter to stage was shared - casting, Opening Night, and the musical’s continued run on Broadway. Fans were rooting for her! PR built excitement around the PEDIGREE® Brand’s role in transforming Sunny with opportunities for consumers to support PEDIGREE® Foundation. With the “See the Show, Help a Dog” initiative, $2 from every ticket sale benefits PEDIGREE ®Foundation.

PEDIGREE® branding was integrated in and around the Broadway theater and we sold special-edition blankets with 100% of proceeds benefitting PEDIGREE® Foundation.

Annie the Musical tells a heartwarming adoption story of little orphan Annie and her dog Sandy. Interestingly, Annie’s four-legged friend was played by a real-life shelter dog in the original 1977 Broadway production. Upon hearing that a 2012 Broadway revival of Annie was in the works, we recognized the opportunity for PEDIGREE® to focus on Sandy’s story to demonstrate what happens when shelter dogs are given a chance.

The Annie partnership delivered more than 100m PEDIGREE® touch points and value 4.5 times the cost of the program investment. Over 922,000 TV viewers tuned in to watch PEDIGREE help discover Sunny in “Annie’s Search for Sandy” and over 243,000 people have seen Sunny perform live on Broadway. The See the Show, Help a Dog program raised over $500,000 for PEDIGREE Foundation and over 410 special edition Annie-Dogs Rule® blankets have been sold to date.

Across PEDIGREE and Annie social assets, the program generated more 370 posts/tweets, resulting and more than 61,283' of engagement, 55,000 “likes”, 3,000 “shares” and 4.5m impressions. The first-of-its-kind Broadway partnership received 100m logo impressions and has been mentioned in 617 publications, earning more than 21m impressions including appearances on NBC’s TODAY Show, Katie Couric and in the Neiman Marcus Holiday Catalog.

In the end, Sunny’s life was not only spared, it was transformed. PEDIGREE® showed America that with a little love and good nutrition, all shelter dogs can shine.