Pet Food For Storytelling Thought
A report by Grand View Research, Inc. estimates that global pet food manufacturing is on course to reach a market size of USD 98,81 billion by 2022.
The rising trends of pet adoption and pet humanisation, which are universal, are likely to be major driving factors over the coming years.
For marketing and advertising communication practitioners the progressive diversification of brand offerings heralds exciting creative opportunities for innovative and compelling integrated campaigns that generate emotive storytelling commercials.
Brand Diversification
Besides pet food products that address health issues manufacturers are also increasing their brand diversiication portfolios to include products specific to the breed, age and size of pets.
Further growth in consumer interest is being stimulated by the constant development of organic pet food variants using ingredients that are grown without the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, hormones or antibiotics.
1. Cesar, Journey
Advertising Agency: AMV BBDO, London, UK
Filmed on location in picturesque North West Croatia, Andy McLeod directed this charming visual narrative about the special relationship between and old man and his adorable, white ‘Westie’.
For dog lovers viewing the commercial there will undoubtedly be an emotive and relatable connect to the story’s heartwarming bond between owner and pet.
On the Little Black Book website (LBB Online), Andy McLeod revealed the following about some production obstacles that had to be overcome:
“In some ways it was a tricky shoot. Our guy was 85 years old, slightly deaf, slightly blind, had never acted before and only spoke Macedonian”.
“I didn’t even know that was a language. So trying to get him and the dog to do what they were supposed to do at the same time was occasionally a challenge”.
2. Dreamies Deli-Catz, Best Friends
Advertising Agency: Adam & Eve/DDB, London
Brilliantly directed by Keith Schofield, this commercial is a reminder for all cat owners that cats will always do what cats have to do. I won’t reveal more in case you haven’t seen it before.
3. Pedigree, General William Howe’s Dog
Advertising Agency: BBDO, New York, USA
Directed by Noam Murro, this short film for the Mars Petcare brand Pedigree’s ‘Feel the Good’ campaign, is based on a little known true story that occurred during the 1777 American War of Independence against British rule.
Amidst the fighting, a terrier made its way into General Washington’s camp, and the dog’s collar identified it as belonging to General Howe, the British Army’s Commander-in- Chief.
To the surprise of his revolutionary forces, General Washington, an avid dog-lover himself, decided to graciously return the terrier to his enemy.
4. Purina Puppyhood, We Met A Girl
Agency: Internet Media, News and Entertainment Company: BuzzFeed, New York, USA
Purina’s Puppyhood campaign series of short films has been a huge success. The ‘Puppyhood’ launch commercial motivated more than 2,2 million online ‘shares’ in the first week of its release.
For me ‘We Met A Girl’ is the most entertaining episode of the storytelling, short film series.
5. Friskies Dear Kitten, Regarding The Big Game
Agency: Internet Media, News and Entertainment Company: BuzzFeed, New York, USA
Produced and directed by BuzzFeed, ‘Regarding The Big Game’ is part of the ‘Dear Kitten’ short film series of commercials for Friskies.
The Advice From an Older Cat ‘voice-over’ is by BuzzFeed’s Ze Frank.
For me this is insightful storytelling that I can easily relate to as our own cats have so often displayed similar behaviour, in front of the television and our computer screens, that I refer to as attention seeking ‘cat tactics’.
6. Friskies Dear Kitten, Regarding The Dog
Agency: Internet Media, News and Entertainment Company: BuzzFeed, New York, USA
‘Regarding The Dog’ is another entertaining short film from the Friskies Dear Kitten series of commercials.
There are 2 million cat videos on YouTube that have attracted an impressive 24.6 billion views between them. This makes cats the single most popular YouTube category with an average of 12,000 views per video.
It is not surprising therefore, that the multiple platform distribution Dear Kitten campaign has motivated a growing viewership globally that will surpass the 50 million plus mark already achieved.
Advertising commercials featuring cats generally score high on viewer likeability, memorability and positive brand recall.