Dogs have bigger brains than cats because they are more sociable, research finds.

Joining The Humane Society of the United States’ Wayne Pacelle and representatives from the United States Postal Service, American Humane Association, and Petfinder.com on stage at Hollywood’s Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for a press conference, Ellen DeGeneres unveiled the new 44 cent stamps featuring [...]]]>

Adopt a Shelter Pet Commemorative Stamps

Joining The Humane Society of the United States’ Wayne Pacelle and representatives from the United States Postal Service, American Humane Association, and Petfinder.com on stage at Hollywood’s Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for a press conference, Ellen DeGeneres unveiled the new 44 cent stamps featuring the adorable faces of five dogs and five cats, all of whom had been adopted from animal shelters and rescue groups.

Mr. Pacelle made the following observation: About 8 million dogs and cats are funneled through shelters every year. They come to shelters for a variety of purposes, they have been found on the streets, or people relinquish them to shelters. There is this stigma that is attached to animals at shelters – that there is something wrong with them, that they are defective, or have some behavioral problem, or some physical problem. Those of us who have adopted animals from shelters know that is false. Contrasting with dogs who are sold from puppy mills, shelter dogs are properly socialized with tremendous attention from shelter workers. The animals at shelters are actually the best socialized animals. They get excellent veterinary care.

The dogs and cats know what is going on. They know that someone has come to rescue them. They are enormously grateful to their new owners for the rest of their lives. What he sees as one of the most tragic things is that only 20% of dogs in people’s homes come from shelters. Four out of five dogs are coming from other sources. If just a small percentage of people who are getting dogs, this year or next year, got them from shelters rather than from a puppy mill or pet store, then we would solve this problem.

Maggie (the rescue shelter dog), Julie and Murry of the DogBlog: A Dog’s Eye View and the BestDogBlog.com agree whole heartedly. We encourage you to buy some Adopt a Shelter Pet Commemorative Stamps and remember there is a dog or cat waiting for your love at a rescue shelter. Please remember them when you need a friend.

Get your stamps here.

Here is a review of the ad by Coloribus Advertsing

Creative Execution: This idea was relevant because we created a ‘Wonder Dog’ for a dog’s home, and [...]]]>

I came across this ingenious advertisement to encourage donations to Sydney Dog & Cats Home, Sydney Australia. What a wonderful idea.

Here is a review of the ad by Coloribus Advertsing

Creative Execution:
This idea was relevant because we created a ‘Wonder Dog’ for a dog’s home, and people love interacting with intelligent animals. The strength of the creative was that it used innovative media to encourage people to donate in a positive way and offer them an immediate reward.

In Australia, ‘throw us a bone’ means ‘please help us’. We created our own entertaining content, Frankie the Wonder Dog. We pioneered a convergent technology platform that enabled people to interact in real-time with him. People ‘threw’ Frankie a bone via SMS and received an instant dog trick in return. Every bone thrown was a $5 donation.

Great results in just three days: • 1327 bones thrown; • 17.4% of people threw two or more times; • 25% of dogs needing homes adopted; • 600% increase in new volunteers; • Over $150,000 in free media from Optus, Inspire, Fairfax, News Limited and JCDecaux.

This clip showcases the work animation house Sixty40 did with ad agency M&C Saatchi and it’s digital arm Mark. This campaign won a coveted Yellow Pencil at the 2009 D&AD Awards in London.