### **“I used to be a cat.”**
**This obscure tagline comes from 02’s latest marketing campaign, ‘Be More Dog’. Yet it’s by no means the oddest form of advertising featuring animals that has pitched onto our screens in recent years.**
Cadbury turned advertising on its head back in 2007 with the memorable ‘Gorilla’ feature, adopting a distinctly unusual approach to marketing – not for the sake of selling a product, but simply for the sake of engaging advertising.
The video, which featured a Gorilla playing a passionate drum solo to the opening sequence of Phil Collins’ ‘In the Air Tonight’ seemed a peculiar marketing ploy for Cadbury’s. Yet it created exactly the reaction it intended to – homing in on the trending wave of obscure online videos that the web was throwing out.
‘Gorilla’ became a viral sensation instantly and prompted thousands of discussions across the country, from the question of who was inside the Gorilla costume to debate over the unbelievably realistic emotions expressed in the Gorilla’s animatronic face.
Cadbury continued its campaign with more odd videos, such as ‘Eyebrows’ and ‘Airport Trucks’ but we think it says a lot that they choose to initiate the campaign with an obscure animal feature; of the millions of viral videos spilling across the web, the most popular predominantly feature animals.
From “LOL-Cats” to skateboarding dogs, monkeys riding pigs or the tale of the honey badger, animal antics are popular amongst all audiences. So its no wonder that for brands that want to reach any and every target market, the application of animal capers in their advertising is a highly utilised tool for initiating interest.
In the past we’ve enjoyed dairy cows getting in the party mood (Anchor), formidable cats with thumbs (Cravendale), an enigmatic Shetland pony doing the moonwalk- #DancePonyDance (Three). Plus a multitude of canine japes, including playful puppies (Andrex), amusing doggy dentures (Pedigree), and the heartwarming sales video of Harvey the homeless dog (Thinkbox) to name a few. And who could forget that infamous Russian meerkat…
Tweet us more of your favourite animal ads this month (link: https://twitter.com/WeAreSuperdream text: @WeAreSuperdream).