The Drum Marketing Awards are one of the industry’s most sought after accolades. Although there are many great agencies with great campaigns out there vying for a gong. I thought it might be nice to concentrate on the Cause Related Marketing Strategy of the Year. I will try to put together some info about the campaign and where possible some information from those behind it.
Stein IAS – Face The Facts
Merck Animal Health’s Face the Facts was a global awareness campaign launched to help educate pet parents about the growing threat of pet diabetes, employing an illustrative new cat and dog duo who live with diabetes: Sugar and Spike. The result was massive attention across earned media channels, increased pet parent awareness, and enthusiastic support from across the veterinary community. The campaign was devised by Global Agency Stein IAS.
The Campaign
The campaign featured Sugar & Spike, who are the faces of pet diabetes.
- Is a real issue
- Has clinical signs you can recognize
- Can be easily managed (no need to euthanize the pet)
It also included an in-clinic engagement toolkit which included the following:
- Faces of Diabetes in your Clinic Poster (FACE THE FACTS):
Raises awareness in clinics by helping vets create a poster of the diabetic pets in their clinic, to be displayed in the waiting room. Poster can be on display all month long for Pet Diabetes Month, and vets can also share their poster on social media. - Face the Facts Handout: Vets give handouts to their clients during the month of November to make them more aware of the clinical signs of diabetes.
- Face-off Card Game: This game can be played in the waiting area, or given away and played at home. Sugar & Spike will take turns displaying clinical signs and the pet parent has to guess which is or isn’t a sign of diabetes.
For the US market, we made this into a digital interaction game that lives on the Merck Animal Health site. - Sugar & Spike Merchandise: Veterinarians and pet parents are given merchandise featuring Sugar & Spike that’s fun to wear and use while spreading awareness.
Merck on Face the Facts
Jane Okkinga BVM&S, DVM, MBA, Global Marketing Director, Merck Animal Health told us: “Merck Animal Health is dedicated to the ethical and responsible treatment of all animals that benefit from our products. Our commitment to animal well-being, however, extends beyond how our products are used, to the prevention of disease, and the creation of supporting services and materials to help owners keep their pets healthy and happy. This commitment extends to our marketing efforts that exemplify all that our company stands for and our mission to longer, healthier lives of our most trusted companions.”
Our Thoughts:
It’s nice to see a campaign devised to help animals health. The characters are fun and appealing and it seems to be a great way to get the message across. Stein and Merck have put together a strong campaign which could have a long lasting positive effect on how animals are treated, and this cannot be a bad thing. Another very nice piece of ethical marketing which puts together a strong campaign with a strong message.
