LOUD has been helping Animals Australia to make ordinary people understand that cruelty to animals exists in live export, pig farming and battery hens for many years. It has won ad awards for this work, a Mobius and a finalist position at Cannes for Make it Possible, among them.

Its new campaign hits close to home. The target, this year, is puppy factories. And the campaign theme is “How Well do you Know Your Best Friend?” The ad uses simple fact versus assertion juxtapositions to make its point.

It’s believed that 9 out of 10 people research their new puppy online and, when they decide on a puppy to purchase, whether from a pet store or breeder, up to 90% of those are actually sourced from a so-called puppy factory. There is little or no public awareness around the issue and people have no idea that often their beloved best friends are the products of a covert and inhumane industry.

The 2015 campaign that launched on television, Sunday night, March 29 also includes digital and OOH. Paid media is considered by the agency to play a huge role in building awareness for animal welfare campaigning.

But before the campaign launched in paid media, it was launched on social media on Thursday, March 26. By the time the first spot aired it had already been viewed over 400,000 times and over 10,000 people had shared the spot.

Steven Thomson, executive creative director of LOUD noted, “Working on this campaign has been a disturbing eye-opener for everyone involved. Director, Gregor Jordan, shared our vision from the beginning and being a dog lover also allowed him to bring some rich personal insights to the project. Strong performances, (both human and canine) disturbing footage, set to an eerie score and underlined with Bryan Brown’s voice over hopefully hit home the important message. Photographer Simon Harsent’s portraits manage to beautifully capture the intimate relationship between dogs and proud owners.”

Lyn White, campaign director at Animals Australia added, “This is a unique look at an astonishingly overlooked issue from the perspective of those who can actually make a difference.  Most importantly, greater awareness will help end this commercial cycle of cruelty and hopefully lead to more dogs being adopted.”

Lorraine Jokovic, chief executive officer of LOUD stated, “People are passionate about their dogs and this campaign turns peoples love for dogs into a reason to make life better for all of them in the long run, because truly caring about your dog means caring (and investigating) where they are from.”

Agency: LOUD

Executive creative director:        Steven Thomson

Creative director:                           Paul Bennell

Writers:                                             Steven Thomson & Christian Kernot

Art Directors:                                  Paul Bennell & Kiah Barker

Agency Producer:                           Steve Dubé

Stills production :                             Pool Collective

Photographer:                                Simon Harsent

Executive producer:                        Cameron Day

Production company:                    Finch

Director:                                           Gregor Jordan

Executive producer:                       Roy de Giorgio

Line producer:                                 Emma Thompson

Editor:                                               Adam Wills

Post production:                             Heckler

Sound:                                               Nylon