A Dog’s Show lives on as a Kiwi classic, and it was recently referenced by Ford and JWT in a quirky Fieldays-related spot. And now Assignment Group and Adam Stevens of Robber’s Dog have done the same, with a 60 second ad that shows a humble house dog being inspired by his rural canine forebears and fuelled by a bellyful of Tux to achieve the seemingly impossible: herding cats.
Nestle’s Purina account was previously with Ogilvy but Assignment won it without a pitch recently. There was no CGI involved in the ad. It was all live action done in camera but with lots of green screens and post work removing fishing line and trainers.
Original A Dog’s Show commentator John Gordon was called in to do the voiceover at the start. And Mark Vette and Animals on Q—who were also behind Driving Dogs—did all the animal training and wrangling.
The classic Tux jingle has been given a new and more epic lease on life, with Liquid (and Assignment’s Josh Lancaster and one of his mates) on musical duty.
The ad industry tends to ignore the advice not to work with children and animals. In fact, as John St showed with its catvertising parody, it’s a foolproof strategy. So, in honour of that, here are a few other animal-related ads from recent years that have caught our attention.
Credits:
Client: NESTLE PURINA PETCARE
Product: TUX
Title: Herding Cats
Senior Brand Manager: Melissa Harland
Head of Marketing: Jennifer Chappell
Agency: Assignment Group
Creative Director: Josh Lancaster & Jamie Hitchcock
Planning Director: Martin Yeoman
Business Director: Veronica Shale
Producer: Juliet Dreaver
Director: Adam Stevens
Production Company: Robber’s Dog
Managing Director: George Mackenzie
Executive Producer: Mark Foster
Producer: Caz Hearn
DOP: Mark Pugh
Editor: Tim Mauger
VFX: Blockhead
