Posting pets share and share alike — for a cause
When social media goes to the dogs (and cats), it couldn’t pawsibly get any cuter.
That becomes clear during a visit to the set of The Shelter Pet Project’s new pet adoption campaign. The brainchild of The Humane Society of the United States, Maddie’s Fund and the Ad Council put pets in an interactive laboratory with toys that let them create their own social media posts for The Shelter Pet Project’s Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Videos explaining how the posts were made will be shared to the organization’s social media accounts.
On the day of the visit, which happened to be National Puppy Day, a group of adorable puppies flooded the set, leading this reporter to believe she must’ve done something Oprah-level generous in a previous life.
The Shelter Pet Project, which hopes to make adoption the primary method of acquiring a pet, has featured Internet-famous shelter pets like Keyboard Cat and Toast in their campaign. Now the organization again hopes to tap into the pet-loving audience on social media.
“People are already sharing content that features pets prominently because it brightens your day,” says Amy Gibson- Grant, vice president of campaign development at the Ad Council. “What we’re trying to do is to capitalize on that phenomenon and leverage it for the adoption message.”
For the campaign unveiled Sunday, National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day, dogs and cats make their way through a white set peppered with colorful props that modify a photo of the pet. Playing with soccer balls changes the back- ground of an image. Touching a hanging emoji adds it to the picture. Traversing the keyboard adds hashtags.
The Shelter Pet Project will share the images on social media during lesser-known holidays like National Odometer Day (May 12) and National Buy a Musical Instrument Day (May 22). The or- ganization opted to use frivolous holidays to assist shelter pets in making the serious request of adoption.
On average, it takes each pet about 45 minutes to explore its technologically advanced playground and walk through a pink arch with a sign that says “send” overhead, signaling its picture is complete. Ad Council campaign manager Allie Palmer jokes that they’re “not working with professional talent, (and) it is definitely a little bit of an acclimation process for some of them.”
When a group of puppies appears on set, it doesn’t take long for one to have an accident. Someone jokes how the young talent must be “pooped.”
Impromptu bathroom breaks aside, the lab proves an effective and innovative way to broadcast the shelter pets’ personalities.
“Our idea is to ... really show how amazing pets are,” Gibson-Grant says. “What better way to do that than actually have the pets front and center?”