2014 Bronze Charity

Perception of Battersea as a home for cats as well as dogs was low. But by showing cats all over the logo and removing any mention of the ‘d’ word, the charity got people to stop, take notice and talk about it.

And, more importantly, it managed to rehome more cats as a result.

Strategy To raise awareness, Battersea’s let the cats speak/miaow for themselves – giving them a voice, some cleverly targeted media space and access to the brand website and twitter feed.

Within the constraints of a tight budget, the targeting and approach had to be clever and precise. A younger professional audience was identified – whose urban lifestyles perhaps couldn’t accommodate a dog but could handle the more independent nature of a cat.

6-sheets and digital escalator panels delivered the campaign to the target audience during their daily commute, whilst Battersea’s loyal and active social following helped amplify the movement using the hashtag #CatTakeover.

The campaign was playful, uplifting and optimistic and leveraged the internet’s huge love of cats to provide a solid online basis for the Cat Takeover.

Creativity The creative featured various mischievous Battersea moggies altering the Home’s logo to remove the ‘d’ word from the name. They scratched, licked and burst their way through posters to get their message across.

This simple creative allowed the insubordinate nature of cats to be showcased in a witty manner – whilst enabling the Home’s identity to feature as a key part of the campaign.

There was also plenty of catrelated content shared socially. Daily posts drove interaction with supporters promoting cats for rehoming and sharing stories, photos and videos. A Facebook album of cat selfies was created to promote some long stays from the Home. A ‘kitten cam’ was set up on Black Monday to cheer people up by watching Battersea kittens playing in their pen. The campaign launched Battersea’s presence on new social channels, too – most notably Buzzfeed.

Results The success of the Cat Takeover smashed all targets. In a nationwide survey 79% of respondents are now aware that Battersea looks after cats as well as dogs – greatly exceeding the 50% campaign target. 1,541 cats were rehomed and cat rehoming now regularly outperforms dog. Cat waiting lists dropped 83% to just 56, smashing the target set. The average cat stay dropped eight days to just 18.

#CatTakeover was used over 4,200 times, cat-related engagement on the Home’s social media improved by 40%, views of cat pages on battersea. org.uk increased by 5.3% and a competition for pictures of cats taking over their owners’ homes received over 250 entries and was shown on the Evening Standard website.

And one Buzzfeed post earned a spot on the Buzzfeed Community homepage after receiving over 10,000 unique views. Clever cats.

Team Dan Douglass - Exec Creative Director, Pete Williams - Art Director, Chris Day - Copywriter, Kishan Chopra - Art Director, Dan Smith - Copywriter, Andrew Orbell - Business Director, Tim Molan - Account Manager, Kate Winsall - Head of Marketing, Jude Peppis - Digital Marketing Officer, Dee McIntosh - Director of Communications