Fur
Sydney Dogs and Cats Home
Issue 1 | July 2008
Agency
M&C Saatchi Sydney
Creative Team
Dave King - Creative Director ;Jason Woelfl - Art Director;Gavin McLeod - Art Director;Jason Woelfl - Copywriter;Dave King - Copywriter
Production Team
Fiona Rooney - Production Manager; Justin Marando - Production Manager
Other Credits
Pat Hood - Manager Sydney Dogs and Cats Home ;Andrea Kerekes, Rochelle Burbury (Open Dialogue) - PR Support
Date
June 2006
Background
The Sydney Dogs and Cats Home is a little known animal shelter in Sydney. M&C Saatchi’s task was to make media influencers, such as radio DJs and magazine editors, aware of the Sydney Dogs Home's name change to the Sydney Dogs and Cats Home, in the hope this would generate free media coverage, thus increasing awareness amongst the public that that they also re-house cats.
Idea
Being a charity, the Sydney Dogs Home didn't have the money to do mass communications outlining its name change. By targeting Sydney's leading media outlets and personalities with an impactful mailing, M&C Saatchi hoped to generate a high degree of awareness, ultimately reaching a far greater audience than the budget would otherwise allow.
To do this they produced an extremely tactile mailing with fake fur, which they sent to 35 leading media figures such as breakfast TV hosts, radio DJs, and newspaper and magazine editors. They leveraged the fact that stroking the fur is extremely addictive, by saying that while it feels great to stroke this, it's a lot better when it's a real cat. The piece goes on to explain how the recipients can make a huge difference and save the lives of cats by communicating the change of name from the Sydney Dogs Home to the Sydney Dogs and Cats Home. They hoped that by publicising the fact that the home also has abandoned cats, as well as dogs, they would be able to re-home these cats.
Results
Within the first week of the pack being mailed five media outlets confirmed that they would run articles and stories on the name change. This included Current Affair, who spent an entire day shooting at the Cats and Dogs Home, The Southern Courier (which is the catchment area for the Home) and Urban Animals. This coverage is estimated to be worth approximately AUS$85,000. With the packs costing a total of AUS$269.00 the campaign has so far achieved an ROI of 316:1.
Target Audience
35 of Sydney's leading media personalities and influencers such as breakfast TV hosts, radio DJs, and newspaper and magazine editors.
Size
35 packs