Whiskas: Catstacam

Credits & Description:

Client: MARS PETCARE AUSTRALIA
Product: WHISKAS
Product/Service: WHISKAS
Advertising Agency: CLEMENGER BBDO SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
Media Agency: STARCOM MEDIAVEST GROUP Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
Executive Creative Director: Paul Nagy (Clemenger BBDO Sydney)
Creative Director: Luke Hawkins (Clemenger BBDO Sydney)
Creative Director: Ben Smith (Clemenger BBDO Sydney)
Senior Art Director: Nick Bonney (Clemenger BBDO Sydney)
Senior Copywriter: Denny Handlin (Clemenger BBDO Sydney)
Head of Creative Technology: Brendan Forster (Clemenger BBDO Sydney)
Head Of Craft: Tim Mcpherson (Clemenger BBDO Sydney)
Senior Designer: Daniel Mortensen (Clemenger BBDO Sydney)
Group Account Director: Madeleine Marsh (Clemenger BBDO Sydney)
Planning Director: Kit Lansdell (Clemenger BBDO Sydney)
Digital Planning Director: David Halter (Clemenger BBDO)
Digital Account Director: Josh Armstrong (Clemenger BBDO Sydney)
Social Planner: Toby Clark (Porter Novelli)
Senior Account Director: Anna Walters (Clemenger BBDO Sydney)
Account Managers: George Robertson, Katie Srcutton (Clemenger BBDO Sydney)
Head of Integrated Production: Denise McKeon (Clemenger BBDO Sydney)
Content: Robin Sung and Annabel Jewers (Clemenger BBDO Sydney)
Print Production: Chris Bear/ Paul Whelan (Clemenger BBDO Sydney)
Sound Engineer: Anthony Tiernan (Clemenger BBDO Sydney)
Device Builds: Tech beach
Producer: Kirstin Lees (Clemenger BBDO Sydney)
Editor: Toby Royce (Clemenger BBDO Sydney)
Brief Explanation
Whiskas is known as the purple cat food brand. They’re also a leading expert in cat care and understanding. But no one knew this. Instead, people were trawling through the Internet for advice. Or having to pay for it.
We saw this as an opportunity to prove Whiskas expert understanding.
We realised that cat content was all shot from the owners’ point of view. So we decided to flip the perspective and created Whiskas CATSTACAM, the social campaign that helps cat owners better understand their cats by seeing the world through their eyes.
Results and Effectiveness:
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.
Creative Execution:
Media worked to tie the campaign together seamlessly. First, 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 also consisted of an online film, Facebook gallery and digital out of home media.
Insights, Strategy and the Idea:
Whiskas is bought by 2/3rds of cat owners (Source: Nielsen). They trust its quality but don’t know what it stands for, other than the purple brand colour. With a universally appealing story, we needed a way to reach millions of owners on a very limited budget, inspiring them to share and promote our cat expertise directly with others. Cat care is one of the top three topics on social media. And these days, if you want to learn about someone and see where they go, what they do, and who they’re with, you ‘follow’ them. We had our channel – Instagram.