The special connection between pet parents and their fur babies has never been stronger as families spend more time together at home.
That connection is at the heart of Blue Buffalo’s latest ad, “Another Morning,” which showcases the authentic moments between Blue Buffalo employees, their families and beloved pets, at home.
“I thought it was touching, I thought it was relevant,” says Bethany Quam, group president of the Pet segment at General Mills. “And you know, there are a lot of those type of ads out there right now. But we really tried to be a little bit different, be a little bit more hopeful.”
But how did they make it happen?
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic and with social-distancing guidelines in place, the Blue Buffalo team knew that a shooting a real commercial wasn’t an option.
So, they put out a request to the entire Blue Buffalo team, or The Herd as they refer to themselves, on a Friday afternoon asking for employees to share footage of them and their pets by the following Monday.
By that Monday morning, they had received more than 150 clips, and it was up to 250 just a couple days later.
"We knew that if nothing came of the commercial, it was still a great internal exercise for everyone at Blue Buffalo to share their ‘new normal,’ says Dan Sylvester, vice president and creative director, Blue Buffalo. “It was a great way for us to feel connected.”
The team didn’t share the script in advance and didn’t want anything fancy from employees; they wanted them to simply capture the real and raw moments between them, their families and their pets.
“This was such a huge departure from anything we’ve done at Blue Buffalo,” says Andrea Espach, associate creative director, Blue Buffalo. “In the past, it’s been all about product, all about seeing that branding. In this spot, we don’t show the Blue Buffalo logo until the very end. And we don’t show any Blue Buffalo product.”
Blue Buffalo is encouraging fans to engage with the spot by sharing their own special moments with their pets by using #MyBlueMorning on social media, for the chance to be featured on their Instagram and Facebook.
With a culinary breakthrough, Blue Buffalo is unveiling Tastefuls, a new portfolio of wet cat food specially crafted to entice even the pickiest of cats.
