My best friend and I created a marketing proposal for a non-profit pet rescue organization "Wonder Paws".
I figured you should probably know the kind of work I've been doing since I've been hyping it up so much.
Here are my dogs! Above is Jake the dog and below is my baby Chloe :)
RESEARCH
Firstly, we wanted to base our marketing campaign over ones whom previously existed and seemed successful. One of these being "Paws4You". The presentation slide above explains the basic ways we interpreted their marketing as well as included specific instances of their marketing that we found being practiced in the bottom left-hand corner.
The reason we choose "Paws4You" was because they not only wanted to benefit the animals in question, but the community as a whole which inspired us through our campaign.
With "Wonder Paws", we wanted to create something fun and full of personality, which is why we didn't like everything about the "Paws4You" brand. Their formality in their visual aspects and their digital presence was not what we were striving for in our interpretation. They overall had a level of professionalism were we thought it felt disconnected and cold.
"Abandoned Pet Rescue" in our opinion did a much better job with their branding characteristics.
It made Yejin and I feel more joyful when associating the organization in a more positive manner.
Abandoned Pet Rescue reinforced their connection with their audience through their bright and colorful branding through their website in having a page dedicated for donors and deceased pets, also having an "Alli Katz" Blog.
All these factors work to give the brand a friendly and inviting connotation to their consumers, creating a stronger relationship with their consumers than "Paws4You" was able to communicate.
They also contain a featured pet, being able to create a great media product in not only being able to suggest a specific pet to the consumer and highlight their story, but to continue building a community relationship.
TARGET AUDIENCE
We chose the target audience of families (specifically mothers as usually being the head of financial decisions) for our marketing campaign, targeting specifically 25-35 year old that are either younger or potential/current parents, and 6-12 year old for the kids. We decided not to target a specific gender for the kids because we felt it was irrelevant, but mothers usually have a bigger financial impact in their children's expenses. Additionally, we look to have employed families whom are educated and have family values because those aspects would imply they would be willing to provide a healthy home for pets which further goes along with the selective application process for "Wonder Paws" adoption
RE-BRANDING
This is our new logo we created for "Wonder Paws" We created, a more modernized logo with two characters, Charlie the dog and Matilda the cat, who can be recurring characters that are associated with the brand and put throughout all branding objects.
When we had heard about Wonderpaws, we immediately thought about Wonder Pets or superheroes which would be appealing to our target audience, having that become a major component of our campaign.
Our color scheme was based on primary colors because it's not only eye-catching from vibrancy, but specifically appealing to children since basic primary colors are the first colors to be introduced to and recognize. Additionally, we had chosen the two slogans that connect back to the superhero theme and also indicate that adoption is a sort of "heroic" act.
When we had heard about Wonderpaws, we immediately thought about Wonder Pets or superheroes which would be appealing to our target audience, having that become a major component of our campaign.
Our color scheme was based on primary colors because it's not only eye-catching from vibrancy, but specifically appealing to children since basic primary colors are the first colors to be introduced to and recognize. Additionally, we had chosen the two slogans that connect back to the superhero theme and also indicate that adoption is a sort of "heroic" act.
MARKETING PRODUCTS
We had created a design for a newsletter as shown to the left called "The Paw Print"! We believe a newsletter is a great way for the organization to engage consumers and directly deliver important information to the inboxes of the parents in our target audience, who check emails quite often.
We have a list of potential content the newsletter could hold and we also had an idea to include an illustrated comic strip in the newsletter, possibly with Charlie and Matilda, to make the newsletter not only be a great source of updates from wonder paws but also provide some entertainment. Perhaps this section of the newsletter can be engaging to kids as well.
On top of that, we thought that if the newsletter got enough subscribers, whether it be former or potential Wonder Paws consumers that local businesses and perhaps bigger corporations could advertise on the newsletter to generate profit for the organization.
Instagram gifs have come into popularity over the last couple of years as they give users a fun way to decorate their Instagram stories. It is also a free way of marketing! We thought it would be a good idea to create Instagram gifs that follow the branding and superhero theme, as seen with the little masks and the superhero paw print logo. This would provide consumers with content that they can actually use and enjoy, both parents and kids. It can be easily found by searching bigger keywords like Superhero or simply by searching wonder paws. Users would also be indirectly promoting the company as well. 
One event we had an idea for was a Superhero Movie Night at the park. It would be a family outing event (including any pets!), so it would appeal to both the parents and kids. As it would show a superhero movie, it stays consistent with the branding. Wonder Paws would also have an opportunity to do some fundraising, possibly by partnering with local businesses, to sell food or snacks like popcorn, and dog treats for attending pups. This would also help create a bond between the organization and current/potential consumers, hosting an event for the community to enjoy. Adoptable pets could also be present there to meet families who are possibly adoptees.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Regarding social media, we will be targeting the parents through this form of digital marketing. Among our target audience age group, YouTube is the most popular, followed by Facebook and then Instagram. We will be focusing our marketing on these social media. Additionally, concerning reaching out to kids, YouTube kids would be a nice resource is doing digital marketing directly to children. We have some statistics about the popularity of the app amount our target audience on the slide, backing up our choices.
We had analyzed examples of the most engaged with media on Instagram and Facebook on different popular hashtags concerning mothers, parenting, and family.
Concerning Facebook, we found similar patterns in popularity with text based image posts usually containing some kind of quote and at times accompanied by a graphic and the same with the pictures of babies and children interacting with their moms as well.
With our analysis, we have gathered up the conclusion of specific visuals that parents are drawn to, and we have put some examples of such images in the slide. We have illustrations/cartoons with text-based quotes, then quirky animal pictures as well as pictures of children and family interacting with dogs. The depiction of this reflects that Parents like looking at images of their children and typically their family interacting with them, in this case, the dogs holding that place. Showing parents pictures of kids having fun and being happy around pets implies that pets will do just that for them, provide them with joy. We’re not only trying to market the pets themselves for them to get adopted but the wonderful experience for a family of having a pet.
INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Another primary part of our social media campaign besides the regular posts is to make sure that most media shared is engaging and interactive. This will help us get more audience engagement with the social media and thus, the brand. We have included a sample of an Instagram story video, which is a strong visual with the bright brand colors and the gid of a dog, as well as a screen capture of a quiz we had made that directs a person to an adoptable pet after answering a couple of questions. These types of quizzes are a great example of interactive media that engages the audience, and also feels personalized to the consumer as they get to determine what kind of pet is suggested to them. Instagram stories in itself have lots of ways for audiences to engage with the brand with the polls and emoticon sliders. Additionally, posting video and utilizing motion graphics on Instagram and Facebook will make for much more engaging media as well.
We have also thought of doing live streams of events on Instagram and Facebook as well, providing yet more interactive media.
BROCHURES
We had created three different kinds of brochures to achieve different goals (volunteering, adoption, and donations). I have included a portion of each in this posting, one of them just being of general info on the backside of a brochure.
These brochures are a great way of print marketing to give lots of information in an easily portable and visually pleasing way. We plan to distribute these in local pet businesses and pass them out at events. We also think it would be a good idea to have them in places where families frequent like local restaurants, parks, and supermarkets.
VIDEO SAMPLE #1
This FIRST animation video depicts a little girl dressing up a superhero, which at the end shows that she was doing so to go play with her sidekick, charlie the dog! Again, the bright brand colors will grab people’s attention to the advertisement, engaging them straight away and the superhero aspect stays on theme. As mentioned before while talking about social media, we are trying to market the great EXPERIENCE that adopting a pet will provide for a family. since this video depicts a little girl having fun and being happy with her puppy, it shows that pets are a source of happiness for one’s children. Additionally, a dad does show at some points in the video. He is shown at the end looking happily at his daughter with her dog, implying the satisfaction of having a pet for parents as well. On top of that, the characters are both in a purple color to be void of race so anyone could connect to the characters in the ad.
VIDEO SAMPLE #2
This is one of the videos we have created that gives general information about Wonder Paws in a fun, bright animatic video. We give some information about high kill shelters and provide them statistics, then begin to talk about Wonder Paws, implying it is the solution to this issue. The branded colors in the video, of course, grab the audience's attention with its vividness, and the flat color modern design of the graphics appeal to the parents in our target audience, while the cartoon aspect can appeal to children.
Both of these promotional videos are intended to be uploaded onto YouTube and YouTube kids, both as stand-alone content and as advertisements to play in front of videos. They can also be uploaded to Facebook and Instagram/IGTV as well!
FINAL THOUGHTS
We had learned quite a few important things in the creation of this project that is sure to assist us in doing the marketing of our portfolio project.
- RESEARCH! RESEARCH! RESEARCH! The research was a fundamental portion of our marketing campaign, whether it be in figuring out what kind of social media posts attract our exact target audience, or figuring out what colors most appeal to children. Well-planned out marketing campaigns specifically made to satisfy the exact target audience niche are essential to be backed up by research to follow what has already been proven to be successful. We will be doing just as thorough research into our marketing and product of our portfolio project.
- TARGET AUDIENCE MUST BE SPECIFIC TO WHAT ONE IS MARKETING. It was a very important part of our campaign to choose a target audience that was appropriate for Wonder Paws. We had to think exactly about what kind of consumers Wonder Paws NEEDS according to their needs as an organization. Choosing a random group like teenagers would not have been an effective choice for a target audience, considering what type of people we needed to get access to Wonder Paws' services. This being said, we need a specific target audience to receive and use the message of our portfolio project, so the marketing should follow that.
- BRANDING CONSISTENCY. Having our message that adopting a pet was a heroic act active throughout all our media products, as well as the visual aspects associated with our brand was significant to our campaign. We plan to have just as much visual and message consistency between our marketing for the portfolio project.
- GET INTIMATE. With non-profit organizations like Wonder Paws, creating a connection with the consumer was a crucial part of the campaign to get them to support them and their pets. Being a person who loves and wants to make emotional films that connect people, having the marketing for our project that creates a deep relationship and intimacy with our target audience and our media product is key.
