Inside Purina’s strategy to use audio ads and Branded Experiences with Alexa to play customers the “Beggin’ Boogie”
Purina’s Beggin’ brand has always been about fun, excitement, and, of course, pet owners creating special moments with their furry friends. In 2021, the brand wanted to find a way to work with Amazon Ads to connect with consumers through audio ads. The primary focus was to create awareness and incremental engagement with the brand by connecting with customers (and their pets) in new ways.
Hitting the studio with Beggin’
Looking for a creative way to use Alexa to create moments pet owners could share with their dogs, Purina and Amazon Ads came up with the idea of the “Beggin’ Boogie.” Wanting to create a fun experience that would get consumers and dogs moving, they decided to make it a disco song, complete with concept art that has their famous mascot Hamlet in a ‘70s-era leisure suit.
Amazon Ads and Purina used branded experiences with Alexa that allowed consumers to ask their Alexa-enabled device to “Play the 'Beggin’ Boogie.'” Alexa would then play a custom throwback disco track that features a DJ voiceover and a chorus with the lyrics “Do the 'Beggin’ Boogie.'”
With the “Beggin’ Boogie” and Alexa at its core, Purina supported the campaign with other Amazon Ads solutions. They ran audio ads on Amazon Music’s ad-supported tier, which informed listeners about the “Beggin’ Boogie,” and rounded out the campaign with video ads and IMDb and Fire tablet placements.
Pet owners and pets across social media are doing the "Beggin’ Boogie"
In its first three months, the “Beggin’ Boogie” has had millions of impressions across Amazon Ads products and contributed to a significant lift in new-to-brand purchases as a result of the campaign.
“You can do executions like this that are about creating special moments with your dog and that pays dividends in your detail page view rate and CPCs [cost per click]. You don’t need to think of those things as such siloed metrics,” said Daniel McGillivray, Purina’s Assistant Brand Manager For Treats Marketing. “Of course, many of the people who engage with branded experiences with Alexa have bought Beggin’ before,” McGillivray said.
— Daniel McGillivray, Purina’s Assistant Brand Manager For Treats MarketingThis campaign helped us reach new customers and remind people that having a pet is so much fun.
The “Beggin’ Boogie” also proved to be a hit across social media, with hundreds of thousands of impressions across TikTok and Instagram. Customers were posting videos of their dogs dancing the “Beggin’ Boogie,” then receiving Beggin’ Strips. McGillivray said the campaign also performed well above engagement benchmarks on TikTok and Instagram.
Audio ads and interaction with this experience on Alexa, McGillivray said, offered a chance for the brand to engage with customers as part of their daily routine. “Alexa sits in living rooms and kitchens, and is part of everyday life,” McGillivray said. “And we know that Beggin’ is part of those daily routines as well, like dogs coming in from the bathroom and good behavior and training.”