Fundraising, Charities, Appeals, Non-Profit Organisations, Public Health & Safety, Public Awareness Messages
Entrant Company
J. WALTER THOMPSON BEIRUT, LEBANON
Advertising Agency
J. WALTER THOMPSON BEIRUT, LEBANON
Media Agency
MINDSHARE LEBANON Beirut, LEBANON
Results and Effectiveness
Less than a month into the campaign, we saw a 400% increase in the users on the BETA website and 600% increase in the foreign users. Adoption requests began pouring in, with an increase of 200%. Finally, the Lebanese stray dogs found loving homes abroad. But surprisingly, 70% of the adoption requests came from the Lebanese. Beta’s act of sending the dogs abroad was perceived so extreme, it put animal rights back on top of their list. A few weeks later, the Lebanese Council of ministers gave the animal protection and welfare law, against animal cruelty, their official approval.
Creative Execution
If the Lebanese leave for better opportunities abroad, then the Lebanese dogs will leave too.
We created the expat pet program. It allows people from all countries to adopt the Lebanese dogs. We spread the news of the program through various media channels within our non existent budget : talk shows, blogs, online banners and social media channels, directing the entire world to a website: xpatpets.com.
Visitors got to know each rescued dog, then could choose to keep it in Lebanon or give it an opportunity abroad.
Local and international media quickly spread the campaign on social media, blogs, magazines, primetime news channels and talkshows. Bosnia’s Media Marketing suggested that xpatpets is a great fixer for Bosnia’s problem with strays. In Lebanon, it made its way onto the #1 talkshow. A prime time news segment of 4min invited all Lebanese to visit the website and keep the dogs in Lebanon.
Insights, Strategy and the Idea
If you’re Lebanese, by the age of 21 you have 2 choices.
You either, leave the country and join the 20 million Lebanese expats living abroad.
Or you decide to stay in Lebanon in the hopes of making it a better country.
But that also means that you live in a country with a lot of things to worry about everyday. Animal rights is not top of the list. As a consequence, stray dogs fill the streets of Lebanon and go through famine, gun shots and all sorts of unthinkable acts of violence. So, how does BETA, whose soul purpose is to fight animal cruelty, overcome these circumstances and get people to adopt these dogs?