MyHooman is a digital pet adoption platform that flips the way traditional animal adoption works.

Stopping humans from shopping for animals based on superficial reasons like appearance and breed. MyHooman takes subjectivity out of the equation, gathering and analysing data to help dogs find the right forever home.

Our algorithm scans 60 unique data points, makes 2,442 calculations, and filters through 157.3 quintillion possible combinations. In-real time. Serving people matches within seconds.

And even better if there isn’t a match that’s quite right; MyHooman retargets the adopter off-platform once a better match becomes available.

200 million dogs worldwide are homeless. It’s Pedigree’s mission to put an end to this harrowing statistic by 2030. They’ve driven pet adoption through marketing, but inherent challenges at the core of the traditional adoption model have limited their success.

We needed to rethink adoption.

So we looked to the core of the problem; people shop for the dog they want - based on superficial reasons like appearance, breed, and ‘cuteness’ - not the dog that’s right for their lifestyle. As a result, up to one in five dogs are returned to shelters, resulting in long-lasting detrimental effects.

We needed to flip the way traditional animal adoption works, stopping humans shopping for animals like accessories, and instead helping dogs find the human that’s right for their needs.

Introducing MyHooman: the first end-to-end adoption platform that puts dogs first, analysing data to find the right human to suit dogs’ needs.

MyHooman breaks ingrained adoption behaviour from the very first interaction, focusing on putting the dog's needs over the adopter's wants.

Rather than serving up dogs available for adoption, potential adopters are greeted with a series of questions that allow our intelligent algorithm to understand their lifestyle. Merging that with the information we have on available dogs enables us to match the right dog with the right forever home.

Our algorithm scans all 60 unique data points, makes 2,442 calculations and filters through 157.3 quintillion possible combinations. In-real time. Serving people matches within seconds.

The clever match algorithm means dogs match with the right hooman, the first time - and are less likely to be returned to a shelter.

We used an empathetic human-centred design process, forming an adoptor co-creation panel, supported by global insights. By developing an end-to-end understanding of the dog adoption process we identified the two audiences and their associated ‘pains and gains’.We then worked with The Waltham Petcare Science Institute and a co-creation panel of shelter workers to define what a dog needs to have a happy home. Dogs, like us, are individuals with different experiences that shape their personalities, behaviour, and needs. We asked adopters to ‘find their match’ – presenting them dogs that suited their lifestyle, personalising the match message to enhance the connection between the adopter and their best match. This data was further used to personalise the platform experience with dynamic content, showcasing why a match is, or isn’t, right for you. If there isn’t a match that’s quite right; MyHooman retargets the adopter off-platform once a better match becomes available.

When someone visits MyHooman, data about their lifestyle is gathered.

When a dog is in care, shelter workers input and adjust data about their lifestyle.

Cross-tabulating these datasets, our intelligent algorithm then scans 60 unique data points, makes 2,442 calculations, and filters through a whopping 157.3 quintillion possible combinations. In-real time, serving people matches within seconds.

Matches are given a compatibility score out of 94% ( 6% for the shelter's best judgment) - matching runners with energetic dogs and snuggly dogs with avid readers, with the dog's profile showing why a match is or isn’t, ‘right’.

Then we take the power of MyHooman off-platform, feeding dog profiles into programmatic media placements, targeted against a matrix of audiences. People are served real shelter dogs who they would be perfect for, regardless of how far down the funnel they are - leveraging third-party data signals for acquisition and first-party data for retargeting.

We changed the game – but it wouldn’t work if the players didn’t buy into it. We needed to prove that people would commit to the process of matching with the right dog, not browsing for a “cute” dog. And we did, with 37% of visitors to the site matching with potential dogs, and 41% of dogs uploaded to the platform have already been adopted.

In terms of ending pet homelessness - New Zealand represents >1% of the global MARS market. Assuming the impact is the same as 2020, MyHooman would contribute to 33% of all MARS’ global efforts.

Better yet, we’ve dropped the return rate from 16% to 1%, and we’re collecting customer data for 20% less money – proving that not only is it the right thing to do for the dogs, but it’s the right thing to do for business.