Watch video – Ad agency, Miami Humane Society release Spanish language PSA campaign

Posted by Elena del Valle on August 24, 2009

Photos, video: Accentmarketing

There are 1.3 million cats and dogs in Miami-Dade County. While animal abuse and abandonment have been a problem for many years, with the recession and foreclosure glut the number of abandoned animals in that city has tripled, according to the Humane Society of Greater Miami. Organization representatives indicate that pet owners often don’t realize the implications of allowing their pets to breed, and the accompanying responsibility of finding homes for the whole litter.

In the hope of bringing attention to these issues, the Humane Society of Greater Miami with the support of Accentmarketing, unveiled a new $100,000 (estimated costs of production) Spanish language public service advertisement (PSA) campaign with Alley, a TV spot, and Studio Shot, a print ad. A radio ad is planned for release next month. They plan to distribute the ads to local Spanish language media. Scroll down to watch the video ad.

The TV ad features a lone baby dressed in a kitten costume crawling on the ground in a dark alley while a voice over discusses pet abandonment and sterilization issues on behalf of the Humane Society of Greater Miami Adopt-A-Pet program. As the camera pans out, viewers are meant to see that the baby represents an abandoned kitten, sitting by himself in a dirty and empty alley, lost and bewildered.

The spot creators want viewers to understand that just like babies, pets are part of their family. They want pet owners to realize that it’s their responsibility to spay and neuter their pets to help reduce the animal overpopulation problem in Miami-Dade County. To do that the Accentmarketing team focused on creating a strong correlation between how sterilizing a pet can result in saving thousands of animals from ending up homeless on the street or in a shelter.

“In this day and age where we see such unjust animal cruelty in our community, the Accentmarketing team felt passionate about instilling responsibility among current and future pet owners to spay and neuter their pets,” said Ana Maria Montero, account group director, Accentmarketing in a press release. “We are proud to be able to support the Humane Society of Greater Miami’s mission and contribute towards inspiring pet owners in our community to be more responsible for their pets.”

Studio Shot is a print interpretation of the Alley TV spot. The image of the baby wearing the kitten costume looks like a professional baby studio portrait. The headline reads: “Tu mascota es como un hijo. Sus crías también deberían serlo” (Spanish for Your pet is like your child. Their offspring should be as well.). The goal is to make pet owners see the baby like a pet, one of thousands of abandoned pets in the streets as a result of unsterilized pets. Most of those abandoned pets are likely to die, according to the organization.

The TV spot and print ad were shot in Los Angeles, where the Production House, D’Avant-Garde is located. Although the TV spot was shot in one day, pre-production and post-production of the TV and print ads required two months.

Twenty people donated their services pro bono to the Humane Society Spanish language PSA campaign. The Accentmarketing team members that led the campaign were: Luis Puerta, creative director and copywriter; Junior Jimenez, senior art director; Rudy Leschhorn, executive producer; and Ana Maria Montero. The following also supported the project: Pascui Rivas and Francisco Pugliese, media directors at D’Avant-Garde, Tom Marvel as director of photography, Guillermo Sauceda for the voice over, and digital retouching by Artistic Image.

The Humane Society of Greater Miami Adopt-A-Pet is a limited admit, adoption guarantee facility, dedicated to placing every dog and cat in their care into a loving home, and promoting responsible pet ownership and spay/neuter programs. Animals admitted into their shelter are safe from euthanasia for as long as it takes to find someone to adopt them. The organization houses 250 pets on a daily basis and spays or neuters 12,000 animals a year in its two clinics.

Established in 1994, Accentmarketing is a Hispanic marketing communications agency with offices in Miami, Los Angeles and Detroit. Clients include the American Heart Association, Farmers Insurance, GobiernoUSA.gov, Chevrolet, the California Association of Realtors, Kaiser Permanente, Brown-Forman and the U.S. Navy.