How much is that doggie on the billboard?
Barley, the pixelated pooch in question, appears to follow shoppers around East London's Westfield Stratford mall in OgilvyOne's "Looking for You" campaign, designed to promote pet adoption for Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.
A chip secretly placed in leaflets handed out to shoppers triggers the canine's capering, enabling him to follow the shoppers from one digital board to the next.
"Battersea rehomes animals all over the U.K. and beyond, and this could help encourage people to choose to rescue a dog," says Carly Whyborn, head of operations at Battersea. "We're using innovative technology in a way that has never been seen before, and we hope more of our abandoned animals find loving homes because of it."
OgilvyOne worked on the project with Framestore, RFIDiom and Exterion Media. The two-minute campaign video was produced by Creation Company Film.
A couple of years back, the agency crafted a similar, much-praised digital outdoor campaign for British Airways. Called "The Magic of Flying," it featured billboards that showed a boy pointing at actual BA flights as they passed overhead. (The signs also disclosed flight numbers and destinations.)
The Battersea concept is more basic, yet firmly on-brand, a simple high-tech tug at the heartstrings to remind Brits of the life-changing magic adopted pets can bring to their lives.
Barley has already found a new owner, but Battersea and other rescue organizations have plenty of dogs and cats that would happily follow you home for real.