• by Aaron Baar , March 12, 2008

Anyone who was moved by Pedigree's Adoption Drive ad showcasing shelter dog Echo, a poor Border collie mix struggling to find a home, will be happy to know that he--as well as the 12 other dogs featured in the six-week campaign--have all found loving homes.

Pedigree--the company behind a television commercial depicting Echo in a shelter getting hopeful as people walked up and sad when they walked away--is set to air a television commercial updating Echo's story. The spot depicts Echo in a shelter, as a voiceover says, "I don't know how I got here," and the screen goes dark. "But I'll never forget the day I got out." The commercial then shows Echo bounding out of his new house, annoying the family cat and getting a vigorous belly rub.

"We had such an overwhelming amount of interest in Echo's story, we felt we had to show the outcome," John Anton, director of Pedigree brand marketing, tells Marketing Daily. Although Echo is the only story depicted through a commercial, Anton says all 12 of the dogs featuring during Pedigree's campaign were adopted.

Pedigree created its Adoption Drive in 2004 and has been promoting the cause in advertising every year. In addition to this year's ad campaign (which launched during the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in February), the Adoption Drive was featured as a challenge during NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice," and the company set up a "flash retail" store outside the Westminster Dog Show to promote adoptions. (Forty dogs from a local New York shelter found homes through the store, Anton says.)

The company also launched a non-profit foundation dedicated to providing grants to shelters around the country. So far, it has raised $750,000 for the foundation, and Anton projected the company would raise $2 million for dog shelters through foundation donations and Pedigree dog food sales in 2008.

"When you find something that works, you want to stick with it and you want to do things that make things better and better," Anton says of the expanded effort this year. "We make dog food and we help dogs. We've gotten so much traction over the last three years that it only made sense to put as much as we could behind this."

The effort has also translated into increased sales. While Anton would not disclose sales figures, he says the marketing push has resulted in "double digit" growth for the brand on both the dry and wet dog food lines.

Moving forward, Pedigree will likely look to expand its adoption message beyond the few weeks surrounding the Westminster Dog Show, Anton says. "I think one thing we want to do in 2008 and 2009 is continue to remind people this is an ongoing initiative for us, and remind people that continuing to buy Pedigree will continue to help dogs throughout the country," Anton says.