M&C Saatchi wins global Animal Spot Award for Sydney Dogs & Cats Home ‘Getting to Zero’ work

M&C Saatchi Sydney scored first prize in the Ethical Value category for Sydney Dogs & Cats Home ‘Getting to Zero’ at the Animal Spot Awards in Rome on Saturday night.

A Technical Jury comprised of leading exponents of Italian cinema, culture and advertising, chose the M&C Saatchi spot ahead of a global shortlist for both its technical excellence and ethical virtue.

In its eighth year, Animal Spot is the world’s only creative Awards program for advertising that uses animals as protagonists.

“Getting to Zero”, a video shot by Damien Toogood, was part of M&C Saatchi’s ‘Limited Edition’ campaign that gathered 21 of Australia’s finest photographers to shoot portraits of 63 homeless pets.

The one-of-a-kind prints, signed and numbered by each photographer, were rendered into superlites and ‘displayed’ all over Sydney.

The posters directed public to the SD&CH website where they could view the entire ‘Limited Edition’ exhibition and either bid for a one-off print, adopt an animal or donate to the SD&CH towards its goal of ‘Gettiong to Zero’ – to eradicate all unnecessary euthanasia of healthy domestic animals.

The campaign was a runaway success with all animals in it adopted, all posters sold, thousands of dollars raised, hundreds of other shelter animals saved and pet euthanasia firmly in the mainstream consciousness.

M&C Saatchi executive creative director Ben Welsh said the Animal Spot win is a nice endorsement for work that made a huge difference in lots of animals’ lives: “If I was a dog my tail would be wagging,” says Welsh.