2020 Bronze Public Sector

Agency: 23red

Client: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)

Campaign Name: Petfished

Campaign Overview

Pet buyers’ paws for thought

DEFRA aimed to tackle the sale of low-welfare animals being sold as pets.

Strategy

The government introduced a ban on third-party pet sales, known as Lucy’s Law, in 2020. It addressed the mistreatment of puppies and kittens being kept and sold by third parties. The campaign needed to make prospective buyers aware of deceitful sellers mistreating pets for profit.

In-depth research to understand the issue revealed a strategic proposition for behavioural change: always research the seller before getting in touch. This highlighted the risks associated with low welfare-bred pets, including diseases and premature death.

People were familiar with the idea of researching the pet, but not the seller, so the initiative needed to encourage new behaviour and reach people when they were researching breeds.

Focus groups found a further compelling insight: telling pet lovers that animals are being treated badly by certain sellers can push them into a “rescue mentality”, meaning they purchase the animal to save it and perpetuate the illegal trade.

Creativity

The team coined a new term: “Petfished”. This crystallised prolific online deceit with reference to the popular TV show Catfish. Creative testing showed that the term resonated with the audience and was well understood as a shorthand for online trickery.

Digital and social media advertising led with the headline “Who's behind the pet?”, while a hard-hitting mini-documentary featuring Guardian journalist Leah Green meeting two moving case studies of people who were petfished was created.

PR was key to raising the profile of the issue to a national audience. Campaign content included one long version of the film and shorter edits to appeal to feline and canine media and influencers.

To gain press coverage, 750 qualified vets were polled to establish the cost of the average vet bill within the first 12 months of owning a pet when it had been badly treated.

Stakeholders including RSPCA, Blue Cross and Tech4Pets were engaged to garner additional information for messaging across online ads, including statistics, associated health risks, red flags to spot deceitful sellers and best practice search tips.

Results

The campaign resulted in an awareness increase of low-welfare sellers from 29% to 36% over three months.

In total, 80 pieces of coverage were secured with 98.5% containing the campaign name. Talent and influencers posted original content on their social channels at launch. Partners delivered at least £70,000 value in-kind via sharing assets on earned and owned channels, and 24,000 clicks to site.

The Team

23red - Jody Hall, PR Partner - Cherish Chirume, Account Manager - Wendy Manuel, Client Partner - Lily Cameron, Strategic Account Planner - Daryll Arthur, Art Director - Ali Omar, Copywriter - Tristan Cavanagh, Creative Director - Rachel Rollinson, Producer - Olivier Barjolle, Photographer - Katy Davies, Senior Account Manager - James Gillies, Account Manager - Sam Marshall, Graphic Designer