If you’ve ever owned a pet, you know that every single animal has their thing –  a stop at the perfect pee spot on a walk, a deeply felt connection with a tattered stuffed animal. Knowing these small but important aspects of the daily routine bond pet and pet carer – parent or not. So it’s exactly these quirks and obsessions that take centre stage in a new campaign from by Orchard for Rover, a US online marketplace connecting pet parents with local, trusted pet sitters and dog walkers. We Get Your Pet tells three stories, each highlighting a unique obsession of a different pet. Each tale ends with a declaration of why these items are so important to a pet.

A mix of warmth and humour highlight that sitters or walkers on Rover understand your pet’s unique love language, ensuring their routine remains uninterrupted while you’re away. The idea started with a simple brief – help Rover build trust. The Orchard team realised that the fastest way to get there was to make an emotional connection with pet owners. The result was a series of love letters to the little things that factor so largely into the daily lives of pets and owners.

“Every pet parent carries a piece of knowledge no one else has: the one thing that makes their pet exactly who they are,” stated Ashton Doyle, senior director of brand marketing. “That’s precisely what makes leaving them so difficult. With the second iteration of our brand campaign, We Get Your Pet, we wanted to demonstrate to pet parents that our sitters and walkers don’t just show up, they truly pay attention. They learn that one unique thing, and that’s how real trust is built.”

“Every pet has that one weird, hyper-specific thing that’s sacred to them,” added Dan Kenneally, ECD at Orchard. “It might be a slobbery, run-down stuffed bunny or a favourite trash can they visit daily. This simple insight ladders up to a meaningful role for Rover sitters and walkers: they not only understand your pet’s smallest, most specific needs, but they also get the emotional stuff, too. It’s the expression of our Rover platform, and a great example of our creative and strategy teams at Orchard working in lockstep to uncover a big, simple idea together.”

The US campaign includes the three films and shorter (15-second) alternate versions of each story airing across YouTube, OTT and social media. The films were directed by Christine Santora, who’s known for her comedic campaigns for Heinz Ketchup and Kraft Mayo. Her infusion of a sly and warm tone helps to celebrate each pet authentically, while also eliciting a laugh.

“We wanted each film to reflect the pet’s perspective, showing the world the way they see it, where quirky, imperfect details turn otherwise random objects into the most special ones,” Christine Santora commented. “We lit the spaces so the pets could explore and move freely, while our DP captured long takes in the background, allowing us to pull out moments where everything aligned without having to reset the shot or stress the choreography.”