Pedigree helps parents move on after their kids move out with The Pedigree Child Replacement Programme via Colenso BBDO, New Zealand
Pedigree and Colenso BBDO have taken a hilariously blunt approach to adoption by creating a campaign that pairs abandoned dogs with abandoned parents.
The Pedigree Child Replacement Programme aims to connect adoption dogs with parents who find themselves alone after their kids move out.
The integrated campaign drives parents to replacethem.co.nz where they can find the perfect canine substitute for their child, cheekily suggesting, ‘When your kids move out, move on’. Parents who adopt can even send in their child’s old possessions and Pedigree will turn them into new possessions for their dog.
Empty Nesters (parents who find themselves living alone) often suffer from a sense of grief and loneliness when their children leave home. The Pedigree Child Replacement Programme gives parents the chance to bring the companionship, admiration, and unconditional love back 
into their lives just by adopting a dog.
Says Cormac van den Hoofdakker, marketing manager of Pedigree: “A dog can bring so much love, laughter and affection into a house. They bring out the best in you and fill your life with joy, just like kids do, only unlike kids they won’t grow up and move to London for 
work. We really hope we can get more dogs out of shelters and into homes that need them”
Animal shelters around the country are full of dogs needing a home. At the same time, thanks to the country’s aging population, more than half of all New Zealanders are living in a household of two or less.
Says Says Ahmad
Salim, business director at Colenso BBDO: “All over the country there are parents sitting in quiet houses lamenting how quickly their kids grew up. At the same time there are dogs sitting in shelters longing for homes. We’re excited to connect the two.”
The Pedigree Child Replacement Programme will target Empty Nesters through TV, digital, radio, press, as well as having a presence at the departure terminal of 
Auckland’s International Airport.
Agency: Colenso BBDO
Client: Mars NZ
Marketing Director – Oliver Downs – MARS NZ
Marketing Manager – Pet – Cormac van den Hoofdakker – MARS NZ
Brand Manager – Dog & Specialty – Maria Granados – MARS NZ
Prod/Film Company: Exit 
Films
Director: Adam Gunser
Sound Design: Franklin Road
Media Agency: Starcom NZ
22 Comments
and it should be highly successful in solving two problems. Bravo.
Very good! Print’s great too.
all the way to cannes.
Why the american VO?
Good stuff.
As for the VO, these kinds of spots always sound better in American.
Juries like it too.
Yet more great work from Colenso.
This is very good. I feel the envy monster growing.
Beer bottle sand, the milk films and now this. Just when you thought it’d be a quiet year for Colenso. Will Y&R back up McWhopper?
Awesome work. Fuckers
Well done.
Sincerely, Well Done.
Love the idea. Love the print. TV doesn’t feel quite right – it’s talking to the kids, not the parents; should be the other way around. Don’t dig the VO either – feels derivative. But this certainly deserves to win in other categories.
…er…um…a good campaign. Very good.
The dog on the bed one was good. The narrator is American I imagine because its that overly sincere style you often get in that market played ironically in this case to make the twist work? Print is nice.
Love the print. Absolutely love it. Best print I’ve seen in ages.
They’ve always used that VO for Pedigree. And a few other clients I think.
This is the best thing I’ve seen in a long time.
So brilliant. So so brilliant.
Green with envy. So so green.
Love it
Spin: The VO is talking to the kids yes, but in talking to the kids in the way that it does, it speaks volumes to the empty nester. Therein lies the skill of an excellent copywriter.
It’s good to see what happens when people who love advertising and love their craft are allowed free-range to flex their professional muscles.
That these people even exist in today’s world warms the cockles of my heart.
Like all great work, an idea like this looks easy and obvious.
The print is great, much better than the tv which feels a bit forced.
These guys should be very proud. Print is perfect, radio works, but I LOVE the TV. The bait is an accurate depiction of hyper emotional advertising cheese we all know and the switch is delicately subtle that doesn’t overdo the punchline. Spot on.
The TV is spot on! Love it. Great reflection of the cheesy ads we all know, tuned on it’s head in a measured well delived reveal. Congratulations guys.