Adopt A Pet
Overview
Established in 1954, The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest and most effective animal protection organization—backed by 11 million Americans. The HSUS seeks a humane and sustainable world for all animals—a world that will also benefit people. The HSUS is America's mainstream force against cruelty, exploitation and neglect, as well as a trusted voice extolling the human-animal bond.
Challenge
The set of four ads and app were created to encourage individuals to adopt pets from their local shelters. The Humane Society of the United States is currently a predominantly web driven enterprise, focusing more on digital than on print. The ads needed to build recognition of the state of adoptable pets in the country. The Humane Society is all about the use of facts to inform their online readers, without the use of flowery language. The challenge was to develop a straightforward campaign that would encourage people to adopt, without using a catchy slogan.
Solution
The simple straightforward slogan of, “Adopt A Pet”, using the Cracked typeface, was used in lieu of something catchy, but ultimately meaningless. This was meant to be a serious campaign about a serious topic, so something funny or catchy would be inappropriate. The black and white images used, reflected this same seriousness, the slightly grungy look of the background giving off a sense of desolation and foreboding. It was decided to use images of pure-bred dogs in the ads to highlight the fact that many shelters have a large quantity of these animals, as a way to discourage individuals going to large puppy mills, another campaign of the Humane Society of the United States.
