Social media superstars lend paw power to help homeless pets

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Three of the Internet’s most beloved pets are teaming up to help the millions of cats and dogs in shelters and rescue groups across the country find loving homes. Fashion icon Toast Meets World, globally recognized pianist Keyboard Cat and life of the party Hamilton Pug are lending their star power to “Start A Story. Adopt,” a new public service advertising (PSA) campaign from The Shelter Pet Project, a collaborative effort between Maddie’s Fund®, The Humane Society of the United States and the Ad Council.

The Shelter Pet Project is the first national PSA campaign to bring together animal welfare organizations and shelters across the country with one unified goal – to increase pet adoption. Since launching in 2009, The Shelter Pet Project has received more than $272 million in donated media. In the past year alone, there have been more than 700,000 searches for adoptable pets on TheShelterPetProject.org.

Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The HSUS said: “Millions of healthy, adoptable dogs and cats enter shelters across America each year and are just waiting for a special home. Unfortunately, many of those animals never find one. We hope Toast, Keyboard Cat and Hamilton Pug inspire people to support their local animal shelters and start their own stories by adopting a pet in need of a home.”

There is a common misconception that there is something wrong with shelter pets- however, the majority of these pets end up in shelters and rescue groups through no fault of their own. “Moving” and “landlord issues” are among the top reasons animals find themselves in shelters.

“This campaign comes at a watershed moment for homeless pets,” saidAmy Zeifangof the Maddie’s Fund Executive Leadership Team. “Thanks to the increased popularity of shelter and rescue group pets, we’re close to reaching our goal of ending pet homelessness in the country. In fact, if every community inthe United States would just adopt six more pets each month, every healthy and treatable shelter dog or cat in America would have a home.”

Toast Meets World, Keyboard Cat and Hamilton Pug receive millions of views, likes and shares on social media, but most people don’t know they were adopted. Created pro bono by J. Walter Thompson New York, these new PSAs share these pets’ unique stories, which all began in shelters and rescue groups, and highlight the special bonds between the pets and their families.

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“Millions of healthy, adoptable dogs and cats enter shelters across America each year and are just waiting for a special home,” Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The HSUS said. “Unfortunately, many of those animals never find one. We hope Toast, Keyboard Cat and Hamilton Pug inspire people to support their local animal shelters and start their own stories by adopting a pet in need of a home.”

The campaign includes TV, radio, print, outdoor and web PSAs. They will be distributed this week to national media and will air in donated time and space per the Ad Council’s model.

Here are an example of the videos:

Toast “Start A Story. Adopt” video

Keyboard Cat “Start A Story. Adopt” video

Hamilton Pug “Start A Story. Adopt” video

Prospective owners are encouraged to visit TheShelterPetProject.orgto learn more about the adoption process and search for adoptable pets at shelters and rescue groups near them. Adoption advocates are also encouraged to support the effort on social media by using the hashtag #StartAStoryAdopt to share stories of how their shelter pets changed their lives for the better and to encourage others to start their own stories by adopting an amazing shelter dog or cat today.

Over the coming months, the campaign will continue to build awareness around the issue through an extensive social media campaign, which will include original and user-generated content encouraging people to share their shelter pet adoption stories. Through the Ad Council’s first partnership with CrowdTap, the campaign will also leverage the marketing platform’s extensive network of social media influencers to spread the word about shelter pet adoption and the new PSA campaign.

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