Throw Us A Bone
Issue 13 | December 2009
Agency
M&C Saatchi/Mark, Sydney
Creative Team
Creative Director: Gavin McLeod, Creatives: Hamish Stewart, Genevieve Hoey, Hannes Ciatti
Production Team
Simon Maggs, Aaron Wallis
Other Credits
Account Team: Megan Wooding, Kirsty Smith, Lee Bachar-Adler
Date
2009
Background
Dwarfed by bigger charities during a tough economic period, the Sydney Dogs & Cats Home still wanted to raise awareness, boost donations and secure a number of dog adoptions – for as little money as possible.
Only a simple, engaging creative idea could help them. But rather than use shock tactics or to obtain donations through sympathy, the agency’s approach was to entertain people into opening up their wallets.
Idea
In Australia, ‘throw us a bone’ means to help someone out. The agency created Frankie the Wonder Dog who performed a number of charming antics on a huge outdoor screen asking passers-by to ‘throw’ a bone by text message.
Every message was billed as a $5 donation to the charity.
By way of thank you, up on the big screen Frankie then performed one of several tricks, such as playing air guitar or going into a Matrix-style fight sequence.
The animation was also sent to the donor’s mobile phone, prompting many to throw a second bone and occasionally even a third.
PR was needed to help draw the crowds to Frankie’s location in Sydney’s central business district. A four-page, personalized newspaper was created and mailed to journalists – in some cases, the newspaper was delivered by a dog. As a result, the campaign got over $150,000 in free media from Optus, Fairfax, News Limited and JCDecaux including free ad space online and offline.
Results
In just three days:
- 1327 bones worth of donations.
- 17.4% of people threw two or more times.
- 25% of dogs needing homes were adopted.
- 600% increase in new volunteers.
- Over $150,000 in free media from Optus, Inspire, Fairfax, News Limited and JCDecaux.
Our Thoughts
Without the classic bit of DM upfront, mailing (and delivering by dog) the personalized paper to journos, this brilliantly innovative idea may not have got noticed.
As it is, it is a great example of a poster actually entering into an exchange with passers-by.
It would be easy to congratulate Gavin McLeod and his team on being so ingenious in finding a new way to extract money from Sydneysiders, but what I’d like to give them a pat for are the old-fashioned craft skills that went into creating such an appealing mutt.
What got the donations pouring in wasn’t the wizardry of the idea but the personality of the little blue pooch.