Promoting Adoption the Ad Council Way

by Stephanie Feldstein · 2009-11-25 11:00:00 UTC
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Ad Council campaigns are hard to miss, especially when they include white collar crime, adultery, and talking dogs. This is the nonprofit organization behind campaigns such as Smokey the Bear and Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Drunk. Through a combination of the pro bono talent of top advertising agencies and over a billion dollars in donated media, they bring public service announcements to a new level. If you've seen a clever ad with a message in the last 65 years, odds are that it was from the Ad Council.

For the first time in their history, thanks to a collaboration between the Humane Society of the United States and Maddie's Fund, the Ad Council has taken on an animal welfare issue. Shelter Pet Project radio and TV ads to promote animal adoption hit the airwaves this fall.

The target audience: 41 million Americans who are on the fence about pet ownership. The desired outcome: Homes for the 3 million adoptable pets euthanized in shelters every year.

The Ad Council doesn't waste their talent on sugarcoating. Check out the pet adoption ads. Their goal is to "give shelter pets a voice" and to dispel myths about shelter animals being "damaged goods." In doing so, they show a range of irresponsible human behavior that leaves perfectly good pets without a home. They're honest, but funny, and sympathetic to the dogs without coming across in that you-love-animals-more-than-you-love-people sort of way (which may be true, but generally doesn't do much to change minds). The Ad Council also created a website for the project with all sorts of interactive tools to help people find their four-legged match and spread the word about animal adoption.

It's a big deal. This kind of publicity doesn't come easy ... or cheap. The Ad Council only accepts a few campaigns each year out of the thousands of applications they receive and the sponsoring organizations (HSUS and Maddie's Fund) have to put millions of dollars over several years into the effort. It sounds like a lot of money, and it is, even for national charities, but the impact is huge. After the Ad Council ran an autism awareness campaign, Autism Speaks saw a 588% increase in their website traffic. Following ads on adopting children, over 13,000 families took the next step toward adoption.

It will be exciting to see what The Shelter Pet Project does for animal adoption over the next few years.

Stephanie Feldstein is a Change.org Editor who has been part of the animal welfare and rescue community for over a decade, and most recently worked for an environmental organization.
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