It's in their DNA

Wisdom Panel is the world’s leading DNA test for dogs that reveals essential breed, behavior, and health information. In the face of increased competition, Wisdom Panel sought to reach new audiences and build brand recognition. The release of Illumination/Universal Pictures’ “The Secret Life of Pets 2” offered the perfect opportunity to tie in a product that reveals the secrets of your OWN pet.

At its core was an interactive web experience that focused on the film’s characters. We worked with the film’s creators and an animal geneticist to create realistic DNA profiles for each of the dogs and released new sets of “results” over time, leading up to the movie premiere. This included “The Rooster Reveal”: a sweepstakes where visitors could guess the breed of the franchise’s newest character to win a trip to Universal Studios Hollywood. We also used the character of Chloe to tease a future kit for cats. A fully integrated digital campaign drove people to the microsite, which then drove customers to the brand site to purchase Wisdom Panel kits for their own pets.

The microsite offered branded entertainment and content. The target demographic was mobile-focused, so posts on social media including Instagram and Facebook were a huge part of the campaign, and 15- and 30-second pre-roll videos ran on sites such as YouTube. PR encouraged media discussion and mentions. Email was also used as entries to the sweepstakes led a database of potential new customers. The entire effort required the partnership of multiple agencies as well as both Wisdom Health (Mars, Inc) and Universal Pictures. Together, we ensured that the entire campaign adhered to the creative integrity of “Secret Life of Pets 2” and that the personalities of the dogs from the movie were well represented alongside fun, accurate breed information.

The experience attracted nearly 200K unique visitors in the first 6 weeks, and more than 10K people entered the sweepstakes. Click-through to the brand site was double expectations. For Universal Pictures, the total box office was $159M in the US and $430M worldwide.