Even dogs in a dog shelter need to understand good communication! What can the Thinkbox Harvey ads teach us old marketing dogs?

Harvey the dog is cooking....

Who should be better at showing the power of TV than the industry group set up to promote TV advertising?
You would think and hope so, so what has the UK group called ThinkBox, proven and shown about TV advertising through their series of ads about a dog called Harvey?


Thinkbox is the organization that promotes the use of TV by advertisers in the UK. Their first ad to promote TV ad usage launched in 2011 an shows a couple going to a dog shelter to find a new dog. All are cute. All are appealing. All you want. But one dog stands out.





TV watchers voted it as the best ad of the year in 2011

On the main commercial channel in the UK (ITV1), in a "best ads of the year" show, a panel of 8000 viewers chose the Harvey Dog Shelter ad as the ad of the year. So they proved they know what makes a great TV ad.

Interesting that the TV industry managed to create an ad to promote use of TV advertising, so really targeted at clients was loved by consumers. Which also probably reinforces another view of mine that you try and approach your advertising with a consumer, not a marketer hat on..


What does this and the Ad teach us about creating great communication?
What really struck me was not about using TV as such, BUT the bigger point that YOU NEED TO STAND OUT WHEN COMPETING! Many products and services are largely the same, no matter what category you are in.

• You must stand out when competing. 
• To do that, you must be different from the rest.
• You must be remembered.
• To do that, you must have appeal and a connection.
• You need to take risks
• To do that, you need to not be bound by established rules of the category - you need to remember you have to compete and stand out among all the ads - not just those in your category. You have to stand out from everything on TV.

It seems this is true even for dogs in a dog shelter! The Thinkbox ad showed 3 key things I believe:

• Stand out: They were all cute and appealing. But one stood out. He was different from the rest. Instead of just using a sorry look, Harvey entertained and promised more.
• Remembered: He made sure he was remembered by doing the unexpected and surprising
• Take risks: I also love that the client bought this. It is charming, funny, watchable and memorable - and without doing the expected. In the past ads promoting TV use have relied on using clips and extracts from other liked and strong ads. So "of the category" and expected. This campaign takes risks

What were ThinkBox trying to show?
This is the official stuff about the first ad from Thinkbox: Thinkbox's second TV ad has been created by The Red Brick Road and directed by multi-award winning director Andy McLeod of Rattling Stick. Starring the multi-talented and extremely smart Harvey, it's designed to show, in an engaging way, the power of TV advertising to affect people's decisions. Whereas Thinkbox's first ad focused on television's ability to create long-term memories, and hence value, for brands; the new one is essentially about TV driving instant success in a competitive market.


Harvey and Rabbit follow-up ad in 2012
In 2012 a second ad in the series was launched, where Harvey shows us the importance of your best friend. Again it not only stands out, is memorable and again they take a risk:

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