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from your client.
Mini billboards paraded around by pooches
By Kathy Prentice
The latest in spectacular, out-of-the-box and over-the-edge billboards are alive. K9 Billboards—groups of trained dogs sporting ads stitched onto their harnesses--wiggle and wag as they tout an advertiser’s logo.
In packs of three or more, the canine billboards and their handlers appear where people gather, at both events and pedestrian-friendly locales.
To find out how to get your client’s logo on doggie jackets, read on.
This is one in a Media Life series on buying the new out-of-home venues. They appear weekly.
Fast Facts
What
Packs of dogs, with their human handlers, circulate at events and other gathering-spots sporting logos and promotions on their body-wrap harnesses.
Who
K9 Billboards, headquartered in Rochester, New York.
How it works
Advertisers place their logo, product name, image or message on both sides of specially designed dog harnesses.
Dogs and their handlers circulate in pedestrian traffic outside of sports events, malls, political events, businesses, and at parades, parks, fairs, college campuses, airports, bus stations, traffic intersections, public squares and conventions.
Handlers can provide details about a product.
A standard showing consists of three jacketed dogs and five handlers per location, says Kurt Scrivens, K9 president.
Sampling, couponing and leafleting are available.
Showings are available 365 days a year and at any time of day or night.
A dog day is usually five to six hours, Scrivens says.
Campaigns can be one day inclusive, though most run one to three days. Campaigns can also be shaped around events or seasons. “We have a couple running every weekend, all summer long,” Scrivens says.
The service is turnkey, with K9 securing permits and permission as required for display on private property.
K9 Billboards offers assistance in targeting demographics.
Showings are targeted. For example, the K9 Billboards can mingle with the lunch crowd in a specific business district.
Campaigns can also be broad. Recently New Yorkers from many walks of life who happened to be in Times Square, Rockefeller Center and Grand Central Station were greeted by teams of jacketed canines plugging Pure Lip, a lip balm cold sore medication.
The public is able to interact by petting the pups if they like, bringing them in close enough to be handed a coupon or sample.
Creative is provided by the advertiser.
An advertiser’s logo and web address are usually included in ad copy. “Whatever they want, we’ll put on,” Scrivens says. “But we steer them toward including basic branding.”
Logos or messages can range from one foot to two feet in diameter.
Ads are presented in full color. “We can print virtually any color match,” Scrivens says. “We use an embroidery system with 50-plus colors available.”
Harnesses can be illuminated for night viewing.
Promotion as well as branding have been the focus of campaigns. “We’ve done a lot of sampling and events to launch products,” Scrivens says.
Exclusivity is assumed because groups of dogs at an assigned locale all carry the same advertising message.
National as well as regional and local companies are using the canine billboards.
Seasonality is not an issue, Scrivens says. “We’re already booking for Vale next winter, though obviously we wouldn’t use hairless Chihuahuas.”
Trained therapy dogs, with their handlers, are recruited in each market because they’re already socialized to interact with groups of people.
Specific breeds of dogs can be requested. “For example, a hot dog company could request dachshunds in ten different markets and we’d get them,” Scrivens says.
Trickle-down coverage has been a factor in campaigns since K9’s launch. “We get a lot of media coverage wherever we go,” Scrivens says.
K9 ads can be used in a media mix, but have been used primarily in stand-alone campaigns since their launch six months ago, Scrivens says.
Advertisers can cherry pick markets.
Markets
“Any market is possible, including Alaska and Hawaii,” Scrivens says.
San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Denver, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Chicago, New Orleans, Boston, Las Vegas, New York City, Philadelphia, Dallas, Houston and Seattle are the sites of recent or upcoming canine campaigns.
Numbers
How measured?
As with many guerilla marketing venues, no formal measurement system is implemented, though advertisers can use coupon redemption to assess exposure. Ads often direct consumers to a company’s web site where the program can be set up to calculate response.
What product categories do well?
“Right now there isn’t anything we wouldn’t advertise,” Scrivens says. “But it would have to be appropriate. We might hand out cigars at a smokers’ convention, but not outside a medical clinic.”
Financial institutions, food and soft drinks are examples of upcoming product campaigns.
Demographics
A demographic target is tailored for each advertiser, Scrivens says. “We provide a design of what we’ll do to reach their audience. That might mean being in one specific market or in 50.”
Pure Lip, a California-based cold sore medication recently used K9 Billboards to extend their brand awareness to the East Coast. “We wanted to basically target females 18 to 49 because they make household purchases,” says sales manager Susan Chang.
Making the buy
Lead-time varies. For a basic one-market showing ten business days are required, Scrivens says.
Campaigns that cover multiple markets can take 30 to 60 days lead time.
Factors that affect pricing include number of markets, days, dogs and handlers. Samples and size of samples are also factors. “Each contract is tailored,” Scrivens says.
Price includes production.
Prices range from a thousand for a one dog, one market, one day campaign, Scrivens says. “They generally range from the low thousands to hundreds of thousands.”
Who’s already on K9 Billboards?
Snow Country ski shops in Rochester is a local company that has used K9 Billboards. Learning Annex, a publication out of New York City is a regional advertiser and Pure Lip out of California has a national reach.
What they’re saying
“We’ve been around for about two years and were still pretty new to the general public. We had used radio advertising and our web site, but no TV. We wanted to get the word out, increase our visibility and brand awareness. We tried K9 Billboards in Rockefeller Center, Times Square and Grand Central Station on the same day. It’s too soon to measure coupon redemption, but the response as far as anecdotal is that it was great to use the dogs.” -- Susan Chang, sales manager for Los Angeles-based Pure Lip.
Web site info
K9 Billboards at www.k9billboards.com
April 15, 2002 © 2002 Media Life
-Kathy Prentice writes about out-of-home advertising for Media Life, penning her stories from the resort town of Traverse City, in the upper reaches of Michigan.
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