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| Alternative media | |
yes, eight barking dogs It's a flash mob without the fancy steps or music Dec 1, 2009
Thus far this year we've seen dancing flash mobs, exercising flash mobs and clown-nosed flash mobs. But a recent campaign came up with a new twist: dog flash mobs. Call them dog mobs. And darned if they aren't the cutest thing. Groups of eight dogs of varying colors, sizes and breeds descended on high-traffic pedestrian areas in Los Angeles and San Francisco earlier this month. With one person holding all eight leashes, they made quite a sight as they walked down the sidewalk, all wearing yellow handkerchiefs around their necks. The mobs didn't perform any routines. In fact, they didn't do much except wag and bark, but that was enough to attract people. Their job was to charm passersby into coming over for a pat or perhaps a lick, giving the men and women walking behind the dog walker a chance to engage them in conversation about PETCO, which sponsored the stunt. The dog mobs, trotted out from Nov. 4 to Nov. 8, were aimed at raising awareness of PETCO's newly redesigned stores in the area and drawing attention to its dog adoption program. "We believe in the special bond between pets and their pet parents, and we wanted to connect with them in the places where they interact with their pets – at the dog park, the beach, the local coffee shop," wrote Adam Fox, PETCO director of advertising and media, and Veronica Strawter, an account manager at Posterscope who helped engineer the stunt, in an email. Unlike most flash mobs, where you just have to show up and learn a dance or put on a costume, the dog walkers and their charges were recruited well in advance. The walkers were local professionals found both online and through PETCO stores, and they were interviewed before being offered the job. Some of the dogs were then brought on board by the walkers, who had to provide detailed backgrounds on each one. Other dogs belonged to the two street team members who accompanied the walker and their assistant. In total, six teams went out each day with 48 dogs among them. The walkers couldn't be everywhere that pet owners frequent, however, and so PETCO and Posterscope included another element of the campaign. Bright yellow cut-outs of dogs bearing the PETCO name and looking skyward were set up in 24 dog parks in LA and San Francisco over the same four-day period. The teams worked six to eight hours per night to set up the 1,440 signs. "The cutouts were printed digitally on smooth white chloroplast on both sides," Fox and Strawter write. "They were die-cut to the shape of the dog. We used standard 'H' stakes similar to that used for campaign signs." The campaign worked on two levels. First, it was highly targeted toward pet owners, who love to take their dogs on outings. Second, it was memorable for the sheer comic value of watching a dog walker attempting to coral eight animals at once. "We created interactions with consumers that we couldn’t generate through traditional media," write Fox and Strawter.
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