Dive Brief:
- Purebred dog registry, The American Kennel Club (AKC), kicked off its first national digital brand campaign, according to a press release shared with Marketing Dive.
- The "If It Barks, It's AKC" effort aims to break the stereotype that the 135-year-old AKC is only for show dogs. The effort showcases the organization's heritage to position it as a resource for people to turn to for raising any dog. The campaign includes a series of humorous videos, including one in which a young family unsuccessfully tries to get a goat to fetch, then the voiceover says, "If it baas, we can't help you, but if it barks, it's AKC."
- Digital marketing agency Media Cause worked on the campaign, which spans digital media, print, social media, audio, and streaming platforms, as well as on over-the-top (OTT) channels including Hulu.
Dive Insight:
The American Kennel Club was founded in 1884 and is looking to shake off its stodgy reputation as a place only for owners of show dogs with a campaign featuring a variety of dog owners and humor. The heavy focus on digital channels could help the organization reach a broad audience on media where funny and touching animal videos are among the most popular content.
This is not the first dog organization to go digital with the goal of reaching younger audiences. The Westminster Kennel Club, which is even a few years older than AKC, recently joined TikTok.
The TikTok push is just the latest in the organization's work with social media agency Glow. Over the past eight years, The Westminster Kennel Club has been using Twitter to announce the results of its annual dog show and creating GIFs and content for Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.
