Just Watching This Pedigree Ad With Adorable Dogs Helps Ones Who Aren’t as Lucky

The Internet really is a boon for pet-food marketers clever enough to capitalize on animal-obsessed Web culture without seeming too mercenary.

Pedigree New Zealand gets extra brownie points for this video of cute dogs being cute, which attempts to leverage YouTube's revenue-sharing model to raise money for dog charity … as if you needed another reason to watch dachshunds eating hot dogs. (No, it's not cannibalism, though it might count as a sort of professional discourtesy.)

The concept is all the more impressive in the way it take two things that are usually annoying—seeing ads on other ads, and being asked to share ads—and makes them kind of feel-good (even if, given YouTube's meager ad rates, it's hard to imagine the campaign actually making significant money).

Regardless, the spot, by Colenso BBDO, is a knockout delight when measured against the high bar for misery-inducing commercials in the pet-adoption genre. Unlike the Sarah McLaughlin ASPCA sob fest that haunts an entire generation of U.S. TV viewers, this one doesn't hinge on making everyone feel awful about themselves.

Plus, the dogs are awesome to watch. Except for that winking puppy at the end, which clearly needs help for having confused itself with a cat. Only cats are supposed to be creepy.

Credits below.

CREDITS

Client: Pedigree

Agency: Colenso BBDO, New Zealand

Creative Chairman: Nick Worthington

Creative Director: Levi Slavin

Senior Copywriter: Matt Lawson

Copywriter: Ben Polkinghorne

Art Director: Scott Kelly

Business Director: Helen Fitzsimons

Senior Social, Digital Strategist: Neville Doyle

Senior Planner: Tamsin McDonnell

Production Company: Finch

Director: Nick Ball

Executive Producer: Rob Galluzzo

Producer: Karen Bryson

Associate Producer: Amy Dymond

Director of Photography: Crighton Bone

Production Designer: Sara Mathers

Animal Wranglers: Animal House

VFX Supervisors: Andrew Timms, Mat Ellin

Offline: Method Studios

Editor: Seth Lockwood

Visual Effects: Beryl

Grade: Pete Ritchie

Flame: Andrew Timms, Mat Ellin

Sound Design: Franklin Rd

Composer: Jonathan Dreyfus