At BCG, we all love puppies. We even have an official “Office Therapist,” AKA, Norman the Westie. It’s probably why we also all cracked up over Purina Puppy and Dog Chow’s latest campaign. The program, titled “Welcome to the Puppyhood,” was launched with a YouTube video via Buzzfeed and received more than 4 million views within the first two weeks.
The video explores the work, care and effort that goes into welcoming a new puppy into the house. A grown, single man named Max is walking downtown and hears a small bark from outside a pet shelter. In front of him is a little Cavalier King Charles Spaniel that instantly steals his heart. After purchasing dog food, a small kennel and toys, he brings the puppy home for the first time. For a while, it seems that all the two are doing is staring at each other until Max decides to choose a name for his new female pup: Chloe. After showing her around the house and introducing her to his collection of 80s and 90s music records, all is well between the puppy-human relationship…until Chloe walks in on Max using the bathroom and subsequently destroys his work project. Patience is tested until Max learns to forgive Chloe and realizes that having a companion isn’t so bad. In the end, you see the two eating breakfast together with a bag of Purina Puppy Chow in the background.
This campaign could almost be seen as the first awkward steps of moving in with a boyfriend or girlfriend. You show them the place, tell them you’re open to change, figure out little things that you have not known about them before, run into some uncomfortable situations and live casually and content in the end. Adopting a puppy is a large commitment and requires a lot of getting used to. You have someone new in your life, so you must do whatever you can to make them happy. Thanks to Purina’s campaign, the struggles of puppy parenthood can be stretched to anyone thinking about adopting a pet.
Purina’s video illustrates the most realistic scenarios of what happens when you bring home your first pet. What do you do first? Go on a walk? Stare at it until it falls asleep? Give it a toy? Puppy parenthood did not come with a manual, but it does come with lots of love and a lot of support from the Purina staff. Puppyhood.com is the new virtual and interactive way to take care of your puppy in the best way possible. Thanks to experts and scientists that have partnered with Purina, new pet owners can learn about everything from naming their puppy to how often they need to exercise, eat and sleep.
You can research before adopting your puppy by downloading the “new puppy checklist” or clicking on the “interactive dog walk” link. Once you bring your puppy home, there are other links of what to do when your puppy has allergies, how to teach it to swim, play fetch and train them with verbal and hand gestures. Website contributors also post articles frequently such as: when to switch from puppy food to adult dog food, how not to let them jump on people and what to do if your puppy starts gaining weight. After all, feeding good food from the table may be a good way to get rid of leftovers, but not if your puppy becomes too comfy to go on a walk.
A favorite link on the website by the staff is the name generator. It’s set up like the old-fashioned MadLibs we all did in the car during a family vacation. The sentence is set up as followed: “My _ _ is gonna love to _ after he/she _.” You can select adjectives, nouns and actions that a puppy is typically described as being or doing. For example, a staff member selected the sentence “My little peanut is gonna love to cuddle up after he gets a belly rub” and the generator told me that because I picked this sentence, I should name my puppy Bruce. The name generator is amusing and completely personalized to entertain and make puppy-adopting more fun and less stressful.
Purina’s latest digital advertising is no doubt becoming a big success. After all, who doesn’t love puppies? They’re able to advertise not only their product, but the importance and encouragement of adopting a pet. “Puppyhood” is available for everyone who has or is considering adopting a puppy and has many options for preparing to bring him or her home. Register now at puppyhood.com.