Pet-Sitting App Rover and Agency Little Hands of Stone Reteam for new "To My Hooman" Campaign

Nov. 13, 2024

Pet-sitting app Rover and longtime agency partner Little Hands of Stone have reteamed for a new iteration of their successful 2023 ‘To My Hooman’ campaign. The new ads, entitled ‘Dirt and Flirt’ and ‘Toyses And Tinkles’ (both :30s), focus on the uniqueness of our pets – not just pets with obvious physical or emotional needs, but tapping more deeply into the fact that most pet parents feel their pets are inherently one-of-one. The campaign highlights a range of quirky pets with a message of trust, reassuring pet owners that Rover sitters love their ‘strange’ pets for the same reasons you do.

The most recent Rover campaign earlier this year from Little Hands of Stone called ‘Cone of Secrecy’ humorously focused on real people confessing to how pet-sitting duties for friends and relatives inconvenience them. 

However, for this assignment, agency Founders/Creative Directors Matt McCain and Michael Boychuk felt their previous ‘To My Hooman’ campaign – with its child-like animation, music, and voiceover from the perspective of the pet – would resonate more deeply.

Boychuk said:

“The previous ‘To My Hooman’ campaign has been highly effective in driving their business. This work aims to build trust with new pet parents by showing the diversity of unique and quirky pets that Rover sitters care for, helping potential customers see their pets reflected in the ad.”

 

Strategy-wise, Boychuk notes, Rover’s research shows that when pet parents know other pet parents that use Rover, they’re more likely to try it themselves.

He added:

“The campaign is meant to give pet parents a sense that there are lots of funky, special pets out there who love their Rover sitters."

 

McCain said:

“Getting pet owners to trust an app is a challenge. Apps can feel impersonal, so turning your beloved pet over essentially to a stranger is a big leap for people. The solution is to build trust with viewers by acknowledging there are lots of weird pets out there just like theirs, and lean into how we love them because of their quirks, not despite them.”

 

The magic that makes these whimsical ads work comes down to three key elements: The rudimentary animation from animation studio Giant Ant, Vancouver, BC, presented as how pets interpret those around them, complete with intentionally misspelled typography, innocent-sounding music, and voiceover (from an actual child just on the verge of puberty), and the copy that radiates what McCain and Boychuk refer to as ‘radical empathy.’

McCain said:

"The copy, the animation, the music which never seems to settle on a melody, and the child’s voiceover all make ‘To My Hooman’ campaign work well in showing pet owners that they can feel good about Rover, and how lots of weird pets, like my own, are forming relationships with Rover sitters."