Catroulette
Collective of Cat Shelters and Gaia
Issue 26 | March 2013
Agency
Famous, Brussels
Creative Team
Creative Director: Tim Driesen Associate Creative Directors: Iwein Vandevyver, Jean-Marc Wachsmann Creatives: Nathalie Wlostowski, Frederik Clarysse Creative interns: Toon Vanpoucke, Morgane Choppinet Design: Nathalie Wlostowski
Production Team
Project Managers: Miet Lust, Bart Seghers Interactive Developers: Thomas Matheussen, Valentijn Steenhoudt Production: Lander Engels, Laurens Groven
Other Credits
Account Director: An Van Den Cruyce Account Manager: Marlies Neudt P.R.: Liesbeth Pyck, Anne-cecile Collignon
Date
September 2012
Background
Cats multiply easily. In 16 months, one cat can produce 36 kittens. Due to a lack of a sterilisation policy, the cat population in Belgium is booming. Cat shelters are absolutely flooded. Every year, 12,000 stray cats are put down. Four refuges for cats decided to do something about the problem in collaboration with Gaia, an animal rights movement.
Idea
The idea was a website like Chatoulette but much cuter. You get to see abandoned cats from the four participating cat shelters. If you ‘next’ a cat, you might never see it again. By showing how many times a cat was ‘nexted’, pressing the next button became a real heartbreaker. It was as if you were sending it to its death. On the other hand, if you fell love with a cat, you could adopt it on the spot. After sterilisation, of course.
Results
In the first few weeks, the site received more than 120,000 unique visitors. As a result, all cats that were initially on Catroulette found a home. In a matter of hours, the campaign took off on Twitter, Facebook and major blogs like Mashable and Laughing Squid. It featured in several news broadcasts, newspapers and radio programs. The organisation received multiple requests from cat shelters in France and Russia wanting to bring Catroulette to their countries.
STOP PRESS. Number of unique visitors is now over 250,000.
Our Thoughts
This is one of those ideas that, when you first have it, you dismiss as being too silly but which, bit by bit, you have to take more seriously. It started as a pun, just take the ‘h’ out of Chatroulette and ha ha ha. But borrowing the mechanics of the original, this device allows the charity to get every cat in front of a potential owner. It’s a gallery of every stray in town but so much more engrossing than a page of photos.
What is it about Belgium that it seems to punch so high above its weight creatively?
Answers to the Editor please!