This Campaign Is A Real Stinker [Quite Literally]
Although this piece of Direct Marketing was probably instigated by McCanns Madrid purely to generate PR and win awards, I've got to applaud whoever it was who came up with and made happen the inspired idea of sending back "Lost Property"packages of dog shit to owners who haven't scooped up their pooch's poop.
The Spanish town of Brunete has been cracking down on foul play by employing volunteers to patrol the streets to find culprits who leave their dog's business behind. Disguising their real agenda, they would then approach the owners to make a fuss of the dog to ascertain its name. This would allow them to access Town Hall records to find out the owner's address to return the lovely package.
Apparently 147 packages were sent out during the course of one week earlier this year. According to reports there's been a 70% decrease in the amount of dog shit on Brunete's streets [I wonder how this was actually quantified?].
It would be interesting to find out what the real campaign ROE [return on excrement] was.
It would also be interesting to find out how much [if anything] McCanns were paid for this. I might be wrong but I can't see the council of a town of 10,000 residents having particularly deep pockets to satisfy the bean-counters of the Interpublic behemoth.
However at the very least it'll provide them with another shit case history.
Something certainly smells a bit funny.
ReplyDeleteIf it's really that easy to identify a dog's owner, why doesn't the city just employ people to do exactly that and fine them?
ReplyDeleteSeems a bit like a case of "being clever for cleverness' sake".