Whiskas: Catstacam

Credits & Description:

Client: MARS PETCARE AUSTRALIA
Product: WHISKAS
Product/Service: WHISKAS
Contributing Company: CLEMENGER BBDO SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
Media Agency: STARCOM MEDIAVEST GROUP Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
Executive Creative Director: Paul Nagy
Creative Director: Luke Hawkins
Creative Director: Ben Smith
Senior Copywriter: Denny Handlin
Senior Art Director: Nick Bonney
Head of Creative Technology: Brendan Forster
Group Account Director: Madeleine Marsh
Planning Director: Kit Lansdell
Digital Planning Director: David Halter
Digital Account Director: Josh Armstrong
Senior Account Manager: George Robertson
Account Executive: Katie Scrutton
Social Planner: Toby Clark
Head of Integrated Production: Denise McKeon
Head Of Craft: Tim Mcpherson
Senior Designer: Daniel Mortensen
Device Builds:
Content: Robin Sung and Annabel Jewers
Print Production: Chris 'Poo' Bear/ Paul Whelan
Senior Account Director: Anna Walters
Producer: Kirstin Lees
Editor: Toby Royce
Sound Engineer: Ant Tiernan
Brief Explanation
In Australia, the pet food category is dominated by traditional advertising, selling rational benefits like taste and health.
The most powerful aspect of cat ownership wasn’t being talked about – care.
Whiskas wanted to stand out and talk about exactly this – their cat care and understanding expertise.
We knew we couldn’t do this with traditional advertising. We needed something that spoke to our audience, gave them the chance to engage directly with us, and unlocked our cat care credentials. So we created a new piece of technology and launched the Whiskas CATSTACAM promotional campaign.
Whiskas CATSTACAM let cats take photos from their point of view and post them directly to their very own Instagram account. All photos were branded by a hashtag.
And whenever a photo captured curious cat behaviour, we were there to explain why via #AskWhiskas.
Describe the brief from the client:
Whiskas is known as the purple cat food brand. They’re also a leading expert in cat care and understanding. But nobody knew this. Instead, owners were trawling through the Internet online to find information, searching 7 times more for care than feeding (Source: Google Analytics). And care is one of the top three topics on social media.
We needed to get the millions of cat owners to realise that Whiskas are not just makers of quality cat food, but are passionate experts who understand cat needs and behaviour.
Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results:
The Internet went crazy for CATSTACAM.
In just a few weeks:
• We were featured on blogs and news sites all over the world.
• The online film was viewed over 1.1 million times.
• #Catstacam was one of the top three trending hash tags globally.
• The campaign generated over 585 million media impressions.
• Generated over $13 million dollars in earned media.
• A 400% uplift in sales.
• And #AskWhiskas was so popular it has become an ongoing social service.
Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service:
We created Whiskas CATSTACAM, the social campaign that helps cat owners better understand their cats by seeing the world through their eyes.
We built some cameras that let cats take photos from their point of view and for the first time ever, post them directly to their very own Instagram account.
To ensure we reached the right audience, we gave CATSTACAM devices to famous Internet cats and celebrity cat owners. As each photo shed new light on cat behaviour, we were there to explain why, with #AskWhiskas. Helping people better understand cats whilst proving our expertise in cat care and understanding.
The campaign ran as planned throughout March in Australia, although the demand for care advice exceed our expectations so we kept the #AskWhiskas service open even after our cats stopped posting to Instagram.
The campaign also consisted of an online film, Facebook gallery and digital out of home media.