Adoptable Drove 600% Jump in Dog Adoptions. Mars’ Marketer Says It’s Proof AI Can Build Brand Purpose

Marketing director at Mars Pet Nutrition, Anthony Dean, has pointed to last year’s ‘Adoptable’ campaign for Pedigree as an example of how AI can “drive your brand values, not just your reach.”

Speaking about the campaign’s development and success at the Australian Association of National Advertisers’ (AANA) RESET conference, Anthony posed a series of questions to marketers.

“When using AI, how can it drive your brand values, not just your reach?

“How can AI build your emotional relevance, not just your efficiency … and how can AI make this more human -- or pet -- centric, not less?”

When Anthony tasked his team, including agency partner Colenso BBDO, with using AI, he banned one word: ‘efficiency.’

Instead, he demanded the tech serve the brand’s mission — ending dog homelessness. The result? A campaign that replaced generic, poor-quality pet photos with AI-generated portraits of adoptable shelter dogs, driving a 600% spike in adoptions and proving AI’s real power lies in emotional connection, not just eyeballs.

“Pedigree is an activist brand ... [we] want to end dog homelessness," Anthony said. “Today, globally, 25% of the dogs in the world do not have a home to call their own … Doing good, we have proven, is good for business."

“We don't see AI as just a tool,” he added. “We see AI as a lens for creative problem solving.”

The ‘Adoptable’ campaign, developed by Pedigree’s ANZ team as part of Mars Pet Nutrition’s global innovation hub, tackled a heartbreaking reality: 25% of dogs worldwide lack homes.

While Pedigree had championed adoption through traditional campaigns, Anthony noted a critical barrier -- shelter dogs were often poorly photographed, reinforcing stereotypes that they were damaged or unfit for families.

“Part of the adoption shelter thing is, generally, these are not-for-profit organisations, staffed with volunteers who are very passionate about looking after the dogs and rehoming them, but because of the nature of the organisation, not very tech-savvy,” Anthony said.

"If you go onto their websites and look at the photos, they’re not always the best representation of the dogs."

Pedigree’s solution was to use AI to transform grainy shelter snapshots into polished, emotionally compelling portraits -- each tied to a real, adoptable dog.

The road to the end result wasn’t smooth, and early AI tests shared in the case study produced surreal results. Through continued iteration and feeding the model thousands of dog images, the team refined the tech until it could generate lifelike poses tailored to different ad contexts.

"Imagine teaching a dog to play fetch,” Anthony said. “AI image modelling is much the same, but instead of giving them a ball, you need to give them thousands, sometimes millions, of images."

The campaign also employed an innovative use of geotargeting, as Pedigree ensured that every digital ad featured a dog available nearby. If a person scanned a QR code, they’d see the dog’s profile and shelter location. Once adopted, the dog was pulled from the campaign, replaced by another in need.

“In the first 12 weeks, our shelter partner saw six times the amount of foot traffic in the front door,” Anthony said, also noting “all the dogs got adopted”.

Now, Pedigree plans on scaling ‘Adoptable’ to North America, the world’s largest pet market.

“AI isn’t just about doing things faster. It’s about doing things better – for brands, and for the world.”

‘Adoptable’ received industry acclaim in 2024, including winning the Cannes Lions Outdoor Grand Prixand an Immortal Award. It was also named among LBB AUNZ’s Favourite Campaigns of 2024.​

Duncan Bone, Colenso group creative director who worked on ‘Adpotable’, said the work was more than just the sum of great ideas.

Speaking earlier this week on LBB’s Auckland panel, Duncan said they “were lucky to have the right person in the right place to say, 'Yes, let's go ahead and do this.’”

“We've all been in so many situations where you have great ideas, you go in, and it just dies because someone is getting out of their comfort zone. All the stars aligned.”