• by Tanya Gazdik , October 7, 2010

Subaru of America is looking for some extra special talent for a 2011 Super Bowl spot.

The automaker will be scouting the filming of Animal Planet's Puppy Bowl in New York City Oct. 15 and will select five puppies to star in the spot, which will be shot the same day. The spot will air nationwide just before the Super Bowl, according to sources close to the process. The commercial is about a guy from Animal Planet traveling to the Super Bowl (in his Subaru, of course) with his five puppies and they make several stops along the way.

A Subaru spokesperson declined to comment.

Cherry Hill, N.J.-based Subaru was a sponsor of last year's Puppy Bowl, which is aired on Animal Planet at the same time as the Super Bowl. Known by pet lovers as the furry alternative to the Super Bowl, puppies compete for the title of MVP -- Most Valuable Puppy. The show is routinely one of Animal Planet's highest-rated shows of the year, pulling in a collective 7.8 million unique viewers during a February 2009 marathon and 1.1 million viewers during last year's live telecast.

The automaker has said that more than 50% of their car owners have dogs, and it indexes higher than most carmakers with dog owners.

Last year, the automaker rolled out a series of spots from Carmichael Lynch featuring all-canine drivers under the tagline: "Dog tested, dog approved."

Subaru has a long history of supporting animal welfare organizations such as the ASPCA. The automaker recently helped dogs and puppies find homes at the Pilots and Paws Gulf Rescue Flyway on Sept. 18. Dogs are shown "driving" and even parallel parking their vehicles. The spots premiered during Animal Planet's "Dogs 101" marathon the Saturday before the Super Bowl and then aired during the telecast of the sixth annual Puppy Bowl.

Beginning in 2008, the marketer started running print ads touting its ASPCA partnership that read: "Without dogs, how would you get rid of that new-car smell?"