PURINA | STREET-VET | 2019
A Dog's Pee Becomes a Street-Corner Health Checkup / PURINA "STREET-VET"
Make a sign that dogs can't resist peeing on, then use that pee to check their health. Sounds absurd written out, but it actually makes perfect sense.
The problem
In France, it's said that more than 1 million dogs a year don't get health checkups. Vet visits cost money and time, and if a dog seems fine, it's easy to keep putting it off. For PURINA's Pro Plan, a pet food brand focused on health, this problem of "illnesses nobody notices" was something they couldn't just ignore.
The insight
Dogs can't help themselves when it comes to peeing on utility poles or posts. It's pure instinct. Use pheromones to draw dogs in, collect their urine, and you can learn about their health. The idea was to sneak a checkup into the daily routine of a walk, without the dog or owner even realizing it.
The idea
STREET-VET, created by McCann Paris, used a digital billboard that released pheromones to attract dogs, with a sterile collection area at the bottom to gather their urine. Chemical test strips checked for diabetes, kidney disease, urinary tract infections, and cholesterol, displaying results in 30 seconds. Built over two years with engineering institute Yncrea and veterinary clinic VetParis7, it was a genuine street-corner testing lab.
What happened
In March 2019, the billboards were set up at 10 locations in Paris and tested 2,500 dogs, finding health problems in 41% of them. At Cannes Lions 2019, the campaign won multiple Lions including Gold in the Health & Wellness and Direct categories, becoming McCann Paris's most-awarded campaign. It also won at the Clio Awards.
Afterthought
This could easily have stayed a joke tossed around in a meeting room, but what's amazing is they actually built the real thing. There's something irresistible about the gap between the silliness of the idea and the seriousness of the engineering behind it. And that 41% number proves this wasn't just a gimmick. The day when a dog's walk doubles as its health checkup has arrived.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Gold 2019
