General information

Campaign objectives: GAIA, a Belgian non-profit organization for animal rights, wanted to raise awareness about the consequences of puppy farming. The communication goal was to ensure that people understood the problem and its dangers. Another goal was to teach people to distinguish a good dog breeder from a bad breeder and to encourage viewers to consider a dog from a shelter instead of purchasing one from a breeder.

The company’s goal was to promote GAIA as a likable animal rights organization without detracting from the activist protagonist in the show.

Context

Hundreds of puppies die every year in puppy mills. People are often unaware that they buy their dogs from puppy mills. The aim was to inform and educate consumers in a non-disruptive way without pointing fingers at them, so they would become aware of the problem.

Creative Minds

This campaign portrays Charlie, a puppy who died of parvo as the main character of the drama and campaign (and in real life advertisements). His death and obituary served as a wake-up call for viewers, listeners, and readers, followed by more information and practical tips on how to recognize (and avoid) puppy mills. The campaign was implemented using TV inscriptions* in ‘Lisa’, a telenovela with a large national reach. These inscriptions were the main kick-off for the campaign. Since Lisa’s story takes place in a fictional advertising agency, it was the perfect setting to create the campaign for GAIA. Michel Vandenbosch, chairman of GAIA, briefed the fictional agency. The concept ‘Charlie’ won the pitch and got executed in real life. In addition, the inscriptions were amplified using other touchpoints:

• Billboards around the telenovela on VTM (a DPG Channel) and VTM GO (a DPG online video platform)
• Radio campaign (Qmusic, JOE, Radio 2, MNM, & others)
• Online display campaign on HLN (DPG news website)
• Print campaign including:
• A 1/1 advertising page in HLN (DPG newspaper) & Dag Allemaal
• Branded content articles published in NINA, HLN Weekend & Dag Allemaal
• Editorial mention in Dag Allemaal (animal obituary)
• Online branded content campaign: articles published on hln.be

Creating a campaign in fiction and translating it to reality by rolling out the campaign in real life had never been done before. Evoking an emotional response was key. Amplifying the TV inscriptions with other media channels and extending the content, the campaign transcended an on-screen plotline.

Integreate, the creative hub of DPG media, was involved in the entire process: they came up with the campaign ideas, coordinated the campaign ideas and inscriptions with the telenovela production crew, and created all the extensions: the billboards, radio spots, print ads, banners, and branded content. Integreate by DPG media was 100% responsible for creating and delivering this campaign.

Campaign video

Results

Not only was the execution very unique, but the results were also remarkable. Since awareness was their most important objective, the results surpassed all expectations: The client was very satisfied with the results and so were the juries of multiple Award Shows: they won two golden Native Advertising Awards for Best Integrated Program and Best Use of AFP Broadcast, the Grand Prix Content Marketing Award for Best Content Strategy (Distribution) and the BOCA Award for Best Content Strategy (non-profit).

• 1 out of 10 people actively supported GAIA after seeing the campaign
• 71% of the people who saw an element of the campaign said they were aware of the problems of puppy mills.
• The problem of ‘Broodfok’ (puppy mills) was well highlighted and understood.
• 1 out of 2 Flemings saw the campaign.
• 61% reported feeling sad after seeing the campaign. This strong emotional response, is an atypical advertising emotion, worked very well to attract attention.
• 81% of the people exposed to the campaign agreed more that ‘broodfok’ causes animal suffering (an uplift of 15%).
• Lisa viewers were more triggered to look for info (17% vs 4%) and support GAIA (15% vs 5%) due to the inscriptions in the show.
• Overall, brand perception of GAIA improved when people were exposed to the campaign.
• Lisa viewers were more attentive to the campaign. Therefore, had a higher recall and a stronger appreciation of the campaign.
• Watching the campaign be implemented in real life and in Lisa enhanced its activating power.

This reach was important given the scale of the problem. On top of that, the telenovela provided the perfect context to explain ‘broodfok’ (puppy mills) understandably and sympathetically.

Not only was the execution very unique, but the results were also remarkable. Since awareness was their most important objective, the results surpassed all expectations: The client was very satisfied with the results and so were the juries of multiple Award Shows: they won two golden Native Advertising Awards for Best Integrated Program and Best Use of AFP Broadcast, the Grand Prix Content Marketing Award for Best Content Strategy (Distribution) and the BOCA Award for Best Content Strategy (non-profit).