Summer movie slates are always dense with blockbusters and 2016 was exceptionally crowded. Cutting through the clutter and winning movie-goers’ first choice at box office was the goal for The Secret Life of Pets. But the release also faced an even greater challenge: we were launching an original film in a season that included several highly anticipated family franchises and returning beloved characters … also featuring animals!
Going head to head with massive franchises, The Secret Life of Pets entered the Canadian market with no pre-existing awareness or fan base. To set ourselves apart and maximize box office potential, we set out to reach a wider audience than the expected “families with children” our competitors would be targeting. We determined the path to achieve our goal was to tap into an emotional connection with ALL pet lovers, and to bolster our audience beyond families.
Pet lovers identify strongly with the personalities of their animals, and there’s an unwavering bond that is built with their pets. So much so, that they are considered part of the family. We became inspired by the movie’s tagline “Ever wonder what your pets do when you’re not home?”, and we devised a plan to leverage the pet owner’s connection with their animals even when they aren’t home.
We reached out to Rogers Communications for the purpose of creating a first time execution by aligning with one of their products: Smart Home Monitoring (SHM); Rogers’ home security service that can be accessed through mobile devices. We saw the opportunity to reimagine the primary use of the SHM product and transform the technology into a gateway for pet owners. It could be used for more than just making sure your home was secure while you’re away. It could also be a fun and entertaining opportunity to look into the real secret life of your pets, replicating the premise of the movie … IN REAL LIFE!
We created co-branded content to seamlessly integrate animated movie footage with live action shots to successfully re-position the SHM product as a pet-watching tool, and build awareness for the Secret Life of Pets. We built a multi-channel approach, conveying to pet lovers that The Secret Life of Pets and Rogers SHM will satisfy your curiosity about what your pets get up to when you aren’t home.
The integration between The Secret Life of Pets and Rogers SHM allowed us to tap into Rogers’ in-house self-promotion across their full media network. We shifted the playing field with our competitors who were outspending us in paid media and reached a media value that was QUADRUPLE our spend. We leveraged Rogers’ owned media assets for an additional 126.7 million UNPAID impressions.
The efficiency we created and the effectiveness of how we connected with the target allowed us to convert pet lovers to movie-goers and this showed in the result.
The film debuted with a record breaking # 1 opening and $104.2M box office - the BIGGEST opening weekend for an original animation movie… EVER!!!