How A Funny Dog On Social Media Became The Star Of An Award-Winning Film

Huuto.net is an easy to use C2C platform where buying and selling is hassle-free and there is a wide variety of items to choose from. Huuto.net used to be the market leader in Finland until Schibstedt group launched their portal called Tori.fi. 

Huuto.net renewed its marketing strategy during the winter of 2015-2016 together with Bob the Robot. The main objective was to raise awareness of the brand but also educate the customers that auction was not the only option – but still, an option. That we did, successfully. The tone of voice for marketing became daring, funny and surprising. 

After the first brand campaigns, Huuto.net also needed a concept for reminding people every day about the variety and scope of products on offer. This need gave birth to Huugo the dog, Huuto.net’s furry mascot. Huugo’s main arena was social media to begin with (Facebook and Instagram) where he poses with different Huuto.net products in funny situations. Huugo became somewhat of a household name online, so when summer came, we wanted to do a bit more. It was time to bring Huugo alive and give him his own film.

Why summer? Well, in Finland, the summer is always short so people want to take everything out of it. They have long holidays and spend most of their time outside in parks and at festivals. This makes the summer time problematic for many online-based companies, like Huuto.net. This is why the main objective of the campaign was to engage users to Huuto.net also during more quiet summer time and to make Huuto.net’s mascot more famous. For this task, TV advertising was chosen as the main communication channel as Huuto.net’s target audience is so wide. 

In the film, the relationship between a man and his dog is threatened by potential girlfriends. The dog comes up with a good way to drive women away, but the man gets his revenge in the end by buying a solution from Huuto.net. Huugo was a massive success as the film was chosen as the best summer advertisement in Finland. “High-quality script, professional direction and furry casting together created a great story. This ad brings the message out in a clear and entertaining way” the jury described.  

The film was designed by marketing agency Bob the Robot and Lucy Love Stories was in charge of the production. Huugo is also doing well.