Company: Lounge Group, Budapest, Hungary
Company Description: Lounge Group is one of the biggest full service communications agencies in Hungary, operating as a coordinated organization, so it can quickly and efficiently manage comprehensive integrated campaigns.
Nomination Category: Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, & Public Relations Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Digital Media Relations
 Nomination Title: "Old Dogs, New Tricks" interactive video series - a pioneer digital PR initiative
- Which will you submit for this nomination, a video of up to five (5) minutes in length about the nominated campaign or program, OR written answers to the questions for this category? CHOOSE ONE:
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the nominated video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video.
- If you are providing written answers to the questions for this category, you must answer this first question: Specify the date on which this campaign or program was launched:
18 August 2021
- If you are providing written answers to the questions for this category, you must answer this second question: Describe the genesis of the nominated campaign or program: the reasons it was initiated, the challenges it was created to address, the problems it was developed to solve, etc. (up to 250 words):
Total 238 words used.
OVERVIEW
In Hungary, every third adopted dog is taken back to shelters due to misconceptions. Then, these dogs often having depression, it becomes harder for them to get into loving homes. Jófogás, the largest digital marketplace in Hungary continued its animal protection campaign for responsible adoption with an interactive video series. A pioneer digital PR initiative on the Hungarian market.
OBJECTIVES
In response to the national phenomenon of unprepared or ignorant owners and abandoned pups spiraling into depression, Jófogás aimed to educate about the common misunderstandings that can come up during the first months spent together with the new companion, to help shelters and owners, while reducing the number of returned dogs.
According to the data of the Hungarian National Food Chain Safety Office, 1,5M dogs are kept in Hungary today, which is an outstanding number on an international level, compared to national population.
Serving as a continuation of our award-winning campaign for responsible adoption in 2020, we needed to take it to a whole new level as digital educational contents go. As a creative PR agency, we envisioned an interactive educational series that stands out from similar content with its branching format, engaging viewers more effectively and simultaneously resulting in longer viewing time.
The primary goal of our digital PR campaign was to raise awareness about this pressing topic on a national level, enriching the responsible brand values of Jófogás, strengthening its reputation in the process.
- If you are providing written answers to the questions for this category, you must answer this third question: Describe the development of the campaign or program: the planning process, the goal setting, the creative and media development, the scheduling, etc. (up to 250 words):
Total 249 words used.
RESEARCH & STRATEGY
As our national survey conducted among 20 dog shelters highlighted, adopters are mostly oblivious to dog behavior and thus numerous dogs are returned every month. Moreover, 2/3 of shelters had to “welcome back” particular animals several times.
One in five dogs is returned because they are “broken” (depressed), and one in three because they bark too much; or people were not prepared for how much responsibility dog keeping entails. Thus, among the most common reasons are even problems with housebreaking and compatibility (the dog does not get along out with the new owner’s partner, child, existing dog), or lack of time that makes walking the dog impossible.
And for dog shelters, which are already terribly overburdened, it takes a lot of work to help puppies trusting people again.
To take a stand and provide authentic answers for the most common problems, in the center of the strategic and creative approach of our digital PR campaign was the “Old Dogs, New Tricks” interactive video series.
With its branching format, our infotainment content about responsible dog adoption was designed to feel novel, more immersive and personalized; a pioneer digital initiative on the Hungarian market that guarantees to stand out from the crowd. A content marketing superglue for the viewers’ attention, making them to take part, resulting longer viewing time as well.
Our target groups included the national public, reaching out to adopters, animal lovers, shelters and animal protection entities, involving opinion leaders and followers of Jófogás as well.
- If you are providing written answers to the questions for this category, you must answer this fourth question: Outline the activities and concrete results of this campaign or program since the beginning of 2019. Even if your initiative started before 2020, limit your response to activities and results since the beginning of 2020 only (up to 250 words):
Total 250 words used.
EXECUTION
We created the creative concept for the interactive format based on our research, designing narrative branches that let viewers choose the answers. With the involvement of Hungary’s most well-known dog expert and a popular actress (owner of 3 rescue dogs herself), we shot the 5-part video series that was complemented with a digital PR campaign focusing on FB, IG and YT, word-of-mouth engagement and earned media.
The interactive educational video series was published on 18 August. During our intensive digital PR campaign, we supported the engagement of key target groups via multi-platform influencer contents, as well as on the social pages of Jófogás, users of which were engaged with blog posts, newsletters and push notifications as well. Hungarian dog shelters were also involved in our campaign, encouraging them to join our noble endeavors. And, with the power of PR, we earned valuable media coverages, directing traffic to our digital content, enhancing visibility.
RESULTS
The interactive video series has been watched a total of 41K+ times (and counting). With our social media activities and messages, we reached 1.2M+ people, engaging 430K+. The series has been shared on 10+ dog shelters’ pages and in 50+ relevant Facebook groups, enhancing the visibility of our campaign with the power of word-of-mouth.
Our accompanying PR activities resulted in an additional 8.1M impressions (out of a total of 10M in Hungary), including interviews/coverages in the most important morning talk shows and radio shows, long-format TV shows, national news sites and animal protection outlets.
- You have the option to reference here any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 19 words used.
We have attached a ppt summary about the campaign and a URL of the case study video as well.
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