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Celebrity endorsements go back to the dawn of advertising, but PRO PLAN’s “Feed Your Pet Like A PRO” from Purina is a smart new campaign that puts a fresh spin on this old genre, setting up viewers to form mental associations that make the message more credible, while serving up an entertaining ad along the way.
The product here is Purina PRO PLAN’s science-backed nutrition for dogs or cats, a range of specially formulated dry and wet pet food designed by Purina experts & pet nutritionists, tailored to different needs and stages in a pet’s life. So, for instance, if you have a sterilised adult cat, PRO PLAN can offer you salmon- or turkey-based food that boosts the animal’s immune system. The brand’s packaging mixes authoritative information and design with appealing images of the pets themselves, and that’s the feeling these new ads capture: experts who understand your beloved pet.
How do you translate that expertise into a winning, emotional ad? PRO PLAN recruited elite tennis players like Jasmine Paolini, Andy Murray and Çağla Büyükakçay – players who understand how important nutrition is to perform at their very best but are also pet owners and whose animal companions star alongside them in the ads. So we see elite sportspeople at work – training and playing – and at home, relaxing and exercising their dogs and cats. The rhythm of racquets hitting tennis balls drives the soundtrack, creating a dynamic and upbeat effect.
Have PRO PLAN served an ace? Yes! On our Test Your Ad platform, which predicts the effectiveness of ads by showing them to a real audience, “Feed Your Pet Like A PRO” does extremely well, scoring way above the category average on all three of our key metrics.
On Star Rating, which predicts the long-term business potential of an ad, it does particularly well, landing a strong 4.5-Star Rating which puts it in the top 10% of all pet food commercials we’ve tested.
It also excels in short term Spike Rating, which predicts sales boosts, and in Brand Fluency, which measures rapid accurate recognition of a brand.
But there’s more to the campaign than the hero ad. In shorter, 10 second social video ads aired around the main 30-second spot, each player gives a little explanation about why they choose PRO PLAN for their pets. Murray, for instance, says “I trust the experts” and says PRO PLAN supports his dog Bonnie achieve healthy joints and a shiny coat. These more typical endorsement spots reinforce the messages of the main ad, and perform extremely well on Test Your Ad’s Social Video platform, with Murray’s ad scoring a strong 4.0-Stars, putting it in the top 4% of all social video ads.
So why does the ad work so well? The smart thing PRO PLAN is doing here is showing not telling. It sets up a chain of mental associations. Elite tennis players train hard and tailor every element of their lifestyle to their particular needs. It makes sense they’d also want the best for their cats and dogs. And PRO PLAN expertise is what guarantees that elite performance. All of this isn’t said outright, but it’s there in the imagery of the ad, marrying on-court performance and off-court pet care. And getting a peek at tennis stars’ adorable animal friends makes it an effectiveness game, set and match.
“This campaign is all about building brand awareness in a way that feels both engaging and memorable. We chose a poem-like voiceover that playfully repeats the phrase ‘Like a PRO’, ‘Play like a PRO, Rest like a PRO…’ as a simple but powerful device to create lasting memory structures in the viewer’s mind. It allows us not only to entertain audiences and offer a glimpse into the daily lives of athletes with their pets, but also subtly reinforces the connection between professional nutrition and the Purina PRO PLAN brand.”
Attila Nyeki
Executive Creative Director at AFG&
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