Few people know that the biggest problem that dog shelters face is savagery. When shelters are overcrowded and under-resourced, dogs don’t get enough human contact to stay tame.
Statistically, each dog living in a dog shelter has 2 years to find a new owner. A ‘dog gone wild’ has no chance of being adopted.
Digital agency, Grape, in Russia was given the task of helping to solve the problem. It could have done that with a typical online video making a typical emotional plea with tragic images and a horror story.
But it didn’t.
It launched an online dating service. For dogs. At a dog shelter called Super Sobaka (Super Dog). Why? Because the agency had worked out that ordinary people could solve the problem by simply walking the dogs…and that motivating them to do that could be achieved by making the idea simple, joyful and fun.
The project received enthusiastic support from Russian media – Youtube bloggers, marketing media, lifestyle online media and national TV channels. Since launch, 1000 people have met a dog (and each other) using Dog Dating. Every week up to 50 new couples of volunteer walkers come to the shelter to spend time together.
One month in, the service was receiving requests from other Russian shelters to join Dog Dating.
So Grape created a special platform. Every dog shelter from any city or country can become authorised on dogdating.ru, get access to the administration panel and manage the volunteering process. Joining Dog Dating is absolutely free for any shelter. More than 10 dog shelters from different CIS countries have already applied to become Dog Dating residents.
The Grape team hopes this idea extends further.
Who is Grape? It’s the first strategic full-service digital agency in Russia and part of WPP’s Possible Worldwide. The agency was founded in 2002 and its sibling agency is Hungry Boys.
