Toronto Cat Rescue #SmittenForKittens Campaign
Role
Advertising campaign, Branding, social media strategy
Type of work
Graphic design, campaign strategy
About TCR
Timeline
April 2022 (research may be outdated)
Toronto Cat Rescue (TCR) is a no-kill, non-profit cat rescue based in Toronto. Their mission is to rescue and find new homes for cats that are sick, abandoned or injured and are in situations of abuse, neglect or impending euthanasia. As a registered non-profit charity, they solely rely on donations and grants from companies/organisations such as Royal Canin, PetSmart, PurrPlan, Captial One and VCA Canada.
Problem Statement
There are periods within the year when cat rescues are flooded with felines and under enormous strain. This is known as “kitten season”. While kittens are born all throughout the year, this period starting in early spring, kittens start to flood shelters and rescues. At this time, an increase of foster families, adoptees and donations is needed to help keep the rescue operations running smoothly. The ultimate goal for the rescues is to spay and neuter all kittens once they are of age (approx. 6 months) to prevent further offspring.
Campaign Goals
The main campaign goal is to increase donations by 40%, adoptions applications and foster families by 10%, in the height of kitten season. The campaign will solely target the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), with hopes it will bring forth attention to help the charity.
The proposed 5-month long campaign, running from March until August, will be solely focusing on pushing the campaign out for cat owners to find and engage with social media contests, to develop content for the digital component of the campaign. Then, other print media will be released to participating sponsors and encourage the audience to attend the in-person event at the height of the campaign. It will then continue for another two months to provide time to foster more social media engagement and general campaign awareness throughout the city.
Segments & Hyper-segments
Millenials
In 2022, the predicted age distribution of millennials will be around 27.6%, making millennials the largest age group in the province. This cohort is also the most educated generation, with about 70% between the ages 30-34 already obtaining a post-secondary certificate, diploma or degree. It correlates to higher income and more spending power.
Furthermore, this generation is known to be soft-hearted and soft-shelled, and values social issues, therefore there’s a chance they are willing to donate, adopt or foster a cat. Millienials are more likely to “check-in” on a business on social media if they receive something for free or a discount. As well as being the most tech-savvy generation after Gen Z, they are the best generation to implement coupon/discount and social media tactics on.
Millennials have mostly settled down with a family or children or is just about to. With this in mind, there are a fair number of families or couples that have moved in together and will have a permanent home for the cats at TCR, making millennials an amazing cohort to aim the campaign at.
Gen Z
Generation Z consists of people with the current age range of 9-24 years old. For this particular campaign, TCR will be focusing on primarily the old Gen Zs, ages 19-24. As the new generation becomes older, this cohort is lucrative for brands and companies alike. While Millenials prioritised social responsibility, Gen Z has expectations for social justice and giving back. With this in mind, TCR’s campaign to raise more donations and gathering more awareness will work with this cohort . Furthermore, as Gen Z is super connected online, 80% of Gen Z considers social media is their largest influence.
However, while Generation Z has a wide variety of life unlike previous generations, they face heightened rates of anxiety, stress and depression, making them more susceptible to want to adopt an animal for emotional support. Gen Z is also desires to contribute to the world and believe they have the power to change. TCR will utilise this mindset to push the campaign to this cohort as helping felines will be a way to contribute to the community.
Timeline
The #SmittenForKittens campaign is a 5-month long advertising campaign for the Toronto Cat Rescue. The rescue itself is in Etobicoke, however, they do not allow visitors to directly meet the cats at their shelter location. The campaign will begin on March 21st, 2022, until October 31st 2022. The narrative of the campaign is educating the general public about kitten season and encouraging them to help or donate.
March 21st 2022
Campaign begins, social media posts begin
Mid-April 2022
Details related to the #CatObsessed event are released, cat trading cards begin distribution
May 2022
All print media will be distributed to all target locatopms (TTC, Go Train stations)
Mid May 2022
Newsletter release related to the campaign and general TCR news
August 15th
#CatObsessed event is held
Mid-Aug to October
Participants posts their entries to the contest
End of October
Contest winners are released
Fun fact: this was coded!
Starting on March 21st, the social media aspect will debut first to create user-generated content for other campaign activities down the road. Then, mid-April, details regarding the August #CatObsessed meet up will be released. During this time, the cat trading cards will begin distribution to pet stores, vets and other participating stores. All print media (posters, flyers etc.) will have also been posted and distributed to all locations (TTC stations, GO Train stations). In mid-May, the newsletter will begin to be sent to the interested audience that wants to be updated with the campaign along with general TCR news.
The event will be held August 15th, for one full day and the campaign continues until end of October, giving the event time to seep through social media and respective participants to post an entry to the contest. All contest winners will be released two weeks before the end of the campaign.
Implementation
The campaign will begin on the campaign website and spread to social media (Instagram and TikTok) to start the social media competition. The first Instagram competition will ask past TCR cat owners to post a picture of their cats for a chance to win an exclusive #SmittenForKittens swag bag and to be featured on the digital aspect of this campaign. Which those images will become the daily cat texts rating the felines. The ongoing TCR hashtag #HappyTails will be used as well as the campaign hashtag, #SmittenForKittens.
The second part of the social media is a TikTok challenge for cat owners to participate in. The swag bag will also be the prize. The third social media component is posting pictures from the #CatObsessed meetup at High Park. There will be a photo booth and participants can post pictures with the campaign tag as well as the #CatObsessed tag.
The event #CatObsessed with be a gathering of all TCR volunteers, workers, donors from the past year, current/potential adoptees, current/interested foster families and the general public who want to learn more about felines. The gathering will include all things cat-related, from seminars to crafting activities. It will be held in August when the weather is warm and at the height of kitten season.
For the print aspect, posters and brochures will be sent to pet stores and vets. The billboards will be put up at high-traffic TTC and GO stations (Bloor-Yonge, Spadina, St. George, Union). Trade cards are available to be collected from pet stores, vets and other participating stores. If a collector collects all ten, they will receive a TCR exclusive pin and tote bag. Trade cards are released every two weeks.
The digital part of the campaign will include a weekly newsletter and a daily cat text with curated cat photos from adoptable kitties to past TCR cats. Users can sign up directly on the website.
